Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-six research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $238.76.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price (up from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday.

Apple Trading Down 0.5 %

AAPL opened at $225.67 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $222.72 and its 200-day moving average is $203.50. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 458,619 shares of company stock worth $101,352,630. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is 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.