Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 1.3% – What’s Next?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 1.3% on Friday . The company traded as high as $232.29 and last traded at $231.11. Approximately 28,830,956 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 46,130,992 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Apple Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $240.93 and a 200 day moving average of $230.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of 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. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at $77,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.