Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded up 0.5% on Thursday after Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on the stock to $245.00. Monness Crespi & Hardt currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $227.03 and last traded at $224.85. 17,600,548 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 52,053,734 shares. The stock had previously closed at $223.83.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on AAPL. Barclays dropped their target price on Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Four investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.14.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $71,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Up 0.6 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.98, 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $241.07 and a 200 day moving average of $230.77.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Apple Company Profile

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.