Canaccord Genuity Group Increases Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $215.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective boosted by Canaccord Genuity Group from $200.00 to $215.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on AAPL. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $196.00 price objective (up from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and upped their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Apple from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $195.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Apple from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $204.11.

Apple Trading Down 0.9 %

Apple stock opened at $181.71 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $172.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly 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. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.93%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.