Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-six analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation, twenty-one have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $243.88.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Maxim Group upped their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $275.00 target price on Apple in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $241.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $239.60 and a 200-day moving average of $233.58.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.