Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $240.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price lifted by Sanford C. Bernstein from $195.00 to $240.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on AAPL. Bank of America reiterated a buy rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Maxim Group initiated coverage on Apple in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a hold rating and a $178.00 price objective on the stock. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their target price for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $210.83.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $208.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $220.20. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $188.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.85.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Apple by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after buying an additional 2,096,360 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by 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.