Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.3%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price was up 0.3% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $170.65 and last traded at $169.95. Approximately 12,614,839 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 60,829,035 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.38.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Redburn Partners downgraded Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.34.

Apple Stock Down 0.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $2.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $175.15 and its 200 day moving average is $182.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $84,378,155.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction 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 approximately $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 2,615,701 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $456,728,000 after purchasing an additional 435,891 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 240,628 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the last quarter. Markel Corp lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 1,206,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $210,752,000 after purchasing an additional 8,450 shares during the last quarter. Camden Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Camden Capital LLC now owns 156,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,305,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Island Capital LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Island Capital LLC now owns 135,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,629,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.