Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $260.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.02.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.62, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day moving average is $241.12 and its 200 day moving average is $230.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.