Apple’s (AAPL) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $260.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on AAPL. Loop Capital upgraded Apple from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Melius Research restated a buy rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup reissued a buy rating and issued a $255.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $238.62.

Apple Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $222.77 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $223.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $198.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 24,629 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,742,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Warner Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Warner Financial Inc. now owns 13,181 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,538,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 171,664 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,050,000 after purchasing an additional 3,367 shares during the period. Invesco LLC boosted its position in Apple by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 52,508 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,109,000 after buying an additional 2,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investors Research Corp boosted its position in Apple by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 17,307 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,332,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.