Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 0.8% – What’s Next?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares rose 0.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $250.20 and last traded at $249.83. Approximately 10,789,578 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 57,397,672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $247.77.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.78.

Apple Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $232.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $223.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after buying an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $3,026,492,000. 67.73% 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.