Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Board of Directors Approves Share Buyback Program

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Trading Up 6.0 %

AAPL stock traded up $10.35 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $183.38. 163,110,196 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 62,045,676. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62.

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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Redburn Partners lowered Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.72.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.