Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 0.8% on Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price was up 0.8% during trading on Monday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock to $250.00. Raymond James currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $232.29 and last traded at $229.98. Approximately 68,239,505 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 65% from the average daily volume of 41,481,172 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.26.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on AAPL. Citigroup lifted their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 8.6% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the second quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,103 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $3,417,000. GFG Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. GFG Capital LLC now owns 113,656 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,938,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Finally, Hall Laurie J Trustee lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee now owns 60,797 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,805,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $241.01 and a 200 day moving average of $230.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current 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 $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

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.