Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reissued their outperform rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $250.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Bank of America reissued a buy rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Loop Capital raised Apple from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the company from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $238.62.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $222.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $223.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.60, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,531,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after buying an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. 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.