Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 1.1% – Here’s What Happened

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $258.21 and last traded at $258.20. Approximately 23,234,703 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 57,472,215 shares. The stock had previously closed at $255.27.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $235.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $226.77. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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 net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last three months, insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock valued at $117,004,745. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC grew its position in Apple by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,848,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Financial Advisory increased its holdings in Apple by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Apple

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.