Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 0.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price shot up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock to $260.00. Evercore ISI currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $246.78 and last traded at $246.57. 8,103,969 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 52,815,000 shares. The stock had previously closed at $244.87.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after buying an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $240.56 and its 200-day moving average is $232.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

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.