Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 1% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded up 1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $330.81 and last traded at $328.21. 36,696,994 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 27% from the average session volume of 49,957,566 shares. The stock had previously closed at $324.96.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s Sept. 9 product event is generating significant interest under new CEO John Ternus, with expectations for new iPhones, an Apple Watch update and potentially the company’s first foldable iPhone. Citi estimates the foldable device could sell 7.3 million units despite a possible price above $2,000. Citi foldable iPhone sales forecast
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s latest quarter showed strong momentum, with revenue rising 16.4% year over year and earnings exceeding analyst expectations. Morgan Stanley has also suggested the foldable iPhone could contribute roughly $14 billion in December-quarter revenue if successfully launched. Morgan Stanley foldable iPhone estimate
• Neutral Sentiment: John Ternus has succeeded Tim Cook as CEO, while Cook remains executive chairman. The transition offers continuity through a longtime Apple executive but raises questions about whether Ternus can accelerate Apple’s artificial-intelligence strategy and sustain Cook-era growth. John Ternus becomes Apple CEO
• Negative Sentiment: Reports indicate initial foldable iPhone production was only a few hundred units per day in late August. Tight quality controls and memory shortages could limit launch supply, delay purchases and prevent Apple from fully capturing expected demand. Foldable iPhone production hurdles
• Negative Sentiment: Memory costs have reportedly surged, potentially forcing Apple to raise iPhone prices, absorb lower margins or risk weaker demand. Jefferies has also downgraded AAPL amid skepticism about the foldable product’s market potential. iPhone memory cost concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Apple faces a $2.7 billion UK lawsuit over alleged unfair app-tracking rules and a separate BASF patent lawsuit involving facial-authentication technology, adding regulatory and litigation risk. Apple UK app-tracking lawsuit

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $400.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. China Renaissance lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $280.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Apple from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $285.56 to $263.66 in a report on Monday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $330.61.

Apple Trading Down 2.5%

The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $315.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $290.34.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 135.46% and a net margin of 27.62%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.57 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 12.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Jennifer Newstead sold 1,439 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.01, for a total value of $456,177.39. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 35,790 shares in the company, valued at $11,345,787.90. This trade represents a 3.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,425,754.82. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 5,872 shares of company stock valued at $1,823,201 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Rainier Family Wealth Inc. now owns 24,386 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,189,000 after purchasing an additional 3,014 shares during the last quarter. Eaton Cambridge Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 21.3% during the 1st quarter. Eaton Cambridge Inc. now owns 13,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,545,000 after purchasing an additional 2,450 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,178,000. Summit Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 108.3% in the first quarter. Summit Wealth Partners LLC now owns 34,989 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,880,000 after buying an additional 18,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis R M Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.1% in the first quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 1,151,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $292,202,000 after buying an additional 23,162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.