Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $250.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target boosted by Evercore ISI from $220.00 to $250.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on AAPL. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $216.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Bank of America restated a buy rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and raised their target price for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $215.71.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $210.62 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $192.13 and a 200-day moving average of $185.46. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $220.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter worth $6,751,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 3.9% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 128,908 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,105,000 after purchasing an additional 4,790 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,220 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 28,679 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,918,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,716,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.