Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $325.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.14.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $223.66 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $241.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $230.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stephenson & Company Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Stephenson & Company Inc. now owns 7,074 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,771,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC boosted its position in Apple by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 42,884 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,858,000. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC now owns 174,652 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $43,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Apple by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 76,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,274,000 after purchasing an additional 4,541 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% 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.