Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-five research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $204.11.

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $181.71 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $172.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.72. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $199.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.93%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after buying an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $29,589,000 after buying an additional 20,737 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,461,000 after buying an additional 10,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $829,240,000 after buying an additional 279,311 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.