Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 0.9% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shot up 0.9% on Wednesday after Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on the stock from $220.00 to $260.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $231.72 and last traded at $230.70. 16,571,838 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 64,344,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.68.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $196.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Maxim Group increased their price target on Apple from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. DZ Bank reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Apple from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Flagstone Financial Management grew its stake in Apple by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,638,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Up 0.7 %

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $199.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.88, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.24. 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 (EPS) 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 quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors 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 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 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in 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 generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.