Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 0.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 0.8% on Monday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock to $250.00. Raymond James currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $232.29 and last traded at $229.98. Approximately 68,239,505 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 65% from the average daily volume of 41,481,172 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.26.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $184.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. O Connor Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $241.01 and a 200 day moving average of $230.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

About Apple

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.