Maxim Group Boosts Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $195.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price increased by Maxim Group from $178.00 to $195.00 in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Maxim Group currently has a hold rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on AAPL. Morgan Stanley restated an overweight rating and set a $216.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a buy rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, DA Davidson raised Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $214.29.

Apple Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $214.10 on Tuesday. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $220.20. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.14. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after buying an additional 2,018,010 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,096,360 shares during 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.