Apple’s (AAPL) Underweight Rating Reiterated at Barclays

Barclays reaffirmed their underweight rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Stock Target Advisor reports. They currently have a $158.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup reissued a buy rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Redburn Partners cut Apple to a neutral rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a neutral rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, DZ Bank reissued a hold rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $203.05.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $169.89 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.27. Apple has a 12 month low of $162.80 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The business’s 50-day moving average is $173.30 and its 200 day moving average is $181.85.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 69.0% during the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC lifted its position in Apple by 118.0% during the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. lifted its position in Apple by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.