Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.5% – Should You Buy?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price rose 0.5% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $243.71 and last traded at $243.37. Approximately 10,022,076 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 38,013,789 shares. The stock had previously closed at $242.21.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Maxim Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.64.

Apple Stock Down 0.4 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $239.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $229.57.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents 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

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after buying an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $406,099,000 after purchasing an additional 95,235 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.