Apple’s (AAPL) Neutral Rating Reaffirmed at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler restated their neutral rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $225.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AAPL. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $237.30.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $229.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23. The business’s fifty day moving average is $221.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 145.35% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,912,466,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter worth about $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.