Citigroup Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Citigroup reissued their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report released on Wednesday, Stock Target Advisor reports. Citigroup currently has a $255.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. New Street Research reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an overweight rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial upped 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $238.76.

Apple Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $226.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $222.90 and a 200-day moving average of $203.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during 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%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 458,619 shares of company stock valued at $101,352,630 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its stake in Apple by 23,076.4% during the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. 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.