UBS Group Raises Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $236.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price boosted by UBS Group to $236.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Stock Target Advisor reports. UBS Group currently has a hold rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Moffett Nathanson started coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, August 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price target for the company. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $228.22 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $226.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $215.52. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, 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 transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was 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 through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.8% in the third quarter. Royal Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,426 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,390,000 after buying an additional 1,497 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $2,896,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $4,813,000. B&L Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $2,921,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $331,873,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.