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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp lowered shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $228.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24.

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 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 firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,026,492,000. Institutional investors 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.