Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, twenty-three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $239.85.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $242.70 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $239.91 and a 200-day moving average of $229.75. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.