Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 1.3% – What’s Next?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares rose 1.3% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $233.25 and last traded at $232.87. Approximately 90,152,832 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 54% from the average daily volume of 58,384,531 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.25.

Apple Trading Up 1.3 %

The company has a market cap of $3.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $228.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $218.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 88.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $110,000. 60.41% of the stock is 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.