Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.2% – Time to Buy?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $250.39 and last traded at $250.18. 23,543,517 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 57,166,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $249.79.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $234.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $225.06.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. SMART Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 3.6% in the third quarter. SMART Wealth LLC now owns 14,580 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,397,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS grew its holdings in Apple by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 73,945 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $17,229,000 after acquiring an additional 5,231 shares during the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at about $71,000. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the third quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 5,831 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL lifted its position in shares of Apple by 23.6% during the third quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 24,462 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,675 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.