Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Saturday . The company traded as high as $237.81 and last traded at $237.33, with a volume of 28481377 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $234.93.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Apple Trading Up 1.0 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The business’s fifty day moving average is $229.02 and its 200 day moving average is $220.02. The stock has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 5.2% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 34.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 200,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $46,650,000 after purchasing an additional 51,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 387.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after buying an additional 19,352 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Company Profile

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.