Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-seven analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation, twenty-three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $236.78.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Apple during the third quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $110,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $247.77 on Wednesday. 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 twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $248.21. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $230.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $222.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

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.