Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 0.2% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPLGet Free Report)’s share price shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $250.39 and last traded at $250.18. 23,543,517 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 57,166,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $249.79.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price 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. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Get Our Latest Report on Apple

Apple Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $234.97 and its 200 day moving average is $225.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPLGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 761,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $130,629,000 after purchasing an additional 17,519 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments raised its stake in Apple by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 991,643 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $170,047,000 after purchasing an additional 119,866 shares during the last quarter. Dodds Wealth LLC raised its stake in Apple by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Dodds Wealth LLC now owns 12,707 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,179,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC raised its stake in Apple by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Invst LLC now owns 49,814 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,470,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 2,568,133 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $440,383,000 after purchasing an additional 29,162 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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