Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 0.3% Higher

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price traded up 0.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $166.71 and last traded at $166.34. 13,442,888 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 60,413,508 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Redburn Partners cut Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Maxim Group began coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.05.

Apple Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $173.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.94.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Cullinan Associates Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 784,520 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $134,318,000 after purchasing an additional 46,216 shares during the period. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.3% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 143,501 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $24,569,000 after buying an additional 5,981 shares during the period. Platte River Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the third quarter. Platte River Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,407 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,685,000 after buying an additional 697 shares during the period. Polaris Wealth Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 77.3% during the third quarter. Polaris Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 322,877 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $55,280,000 after purchasing an additional 140,750 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Wealth Network Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the third quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 19,813 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,392,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.