Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 0.8% on Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares rose 0.8% during mid-day trading on Monday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock to $250.00. Raymond James currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $232.29 and last traded at $229.98. Approximately 68,239,505 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 65% from the average daily volume of 41,481,172 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.26.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Moffett Nathanson restated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Insider Transactions at Apple

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $241.01 and its 200 day moving average is $230.79.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Apple Company Profile

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.