Monness Crespi & Hardt Increases Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $245.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective raised by Monness Crespi & Hardt from $205.00 to $245.00 in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $275.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group reissued a neutral rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $164.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $234.29.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $209.27 on Friday. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $213.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. 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, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 145.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. boosted its stake in Apple by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. now owns 51,949 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,002,000 after buying an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC now owns 184,781 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,576,000 after purchasing an additional 17,459 shares in the last quarter. Carlson Capital Management raised its holdings in Apple by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 78,788 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,169,000 after purchasing an additional 7,271 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 57,793 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,127,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lbmc Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Lbmc Investment Advisors LLC now owns 50,160 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,657,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. 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.