Apple’s (AAPL) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $273.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the subject of several other reports. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $234.93 on Monday. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $228.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.