JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $265.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $245.00 to $265.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on AAPL. DZ Bank restated a hold rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and raised their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Barclays reaffirmed an underweight rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a buy rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $230.09.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $217.96 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $210.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $190.06. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.23. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.