Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $260.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Loop Capital cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.14.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $223.66 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $241.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.77. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in 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. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth approximately $71,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% 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.