Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Cfra increased their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Loop Capital raised Apple from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $239.17.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $226.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $222.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $200.82.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was 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 $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after buying an additional 18,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,782,000. 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.