Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares shot up 0.1% on Wednesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock to $236.00. UBS Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $225.21 and last traded at $224.38. 12,390,785 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 58,613,785 shares. The stock had previously closed at $224.23.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Cfra boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 412,746 shares of company stock worth $93,021,362. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Apple by 0.5% during the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1.3% during the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory boosted its position in Apple by 3.8% during the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Core Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $226.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.