Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 1.2% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares were up 1.2% during trading on Monday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $240.00 to $260.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $246.43 and last traded at $246.17. Approximately 12,696,184 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 35,600,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $243.36.

A number of other analysts have also commented on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson lowered their price objective on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.64.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bull Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Apple during the third quarter worth approximately $77,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 1.1 %

The company has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.84, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $239.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $229.57.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.