Apple’s (AAPL) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $225.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Cfra lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a buy rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $239.27.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $227.55 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $223.47 and its 200 day moving average is $205.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given 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 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $85,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.