Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 0.3% – Here’s What Happened

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price was up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $230.08 and last traded at $229.20. 6,523,709 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 58,106,027 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price target on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Apple Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $227.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $218.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Apple by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 387.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gentry Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $876,000. 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.