Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 0.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares traded up 0.8% on Monday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $220.00 to $250.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $209.56 and last traded at $209.22. 15,631,327 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 64,739,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $207.49.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Melius Research upped their price target on Apple from $227.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 132.8% during the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.51, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $189.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.94.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.