Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $273.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on AAPL. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $234.93 on Monday. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. 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 $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $228.83 and a 200-day moving average of $219.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple 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. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’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 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 through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 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 insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,943,000 after acquiring an additional 42,282 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.9% in the first quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 209,327 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,895,000 after purchasing an additional 7,860 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 28.0% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,601,162 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $446,048,000 after buying an additional 568,771 shares in the last quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 45,004 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,717,000 after buying an additional 1,982 shares during the period. Finally, Adapt Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $868,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% 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.