Apple’s (AAPL) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities reiterated their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $261.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on AAPL. Evercore ISI reiterated an outperform rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America reissued a buy rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $255.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies reissued a neutral rating and set a $225.00 target price (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $238.62.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $222.50 on Tuesday. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $223.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth $42,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. increased its stake in Apple by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.