Wedbush Reiterates Outperform Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $270.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “cautious” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.86.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $199.20 on Tuesday. Apple has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $201.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $223.37. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after buying an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.