Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 2.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares shot up 2.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $238.54 and last traded at $238.18. 10,749,060 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 42,218,262 shares. The stock had previously closed at $233.28.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Maxim Group upped their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Apple Trading Up 1.7 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

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

Institutional Trading of Apple

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% 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.