Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $205.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price upped by Monness Crespi & Hardt from $200.00 to $205.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Apple from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $195.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a neutral rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued 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 an average target price of $204.11.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.52, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $172.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.67.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 153.25%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 14.93%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Apple by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. 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.