Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $250.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective lifted by Raymond James to $250.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Stock Target Advisor reports. Raymond James currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer lowered Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.26.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $188.38 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $229.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $233.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.08 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Equities analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter worth $71,000. 67.73% 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.