Apple’s (AAPL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Bank of America

Bank of America reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a $256.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. UBS Group reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apple from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies restated a neutral rating and set a $225.00 price target (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $237.30.

Apple Trading Up 1.5 %

Apple stock opened at $229.79 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.74, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $221.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $195.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 145.35% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 1.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,531,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.