Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 0.1% Higher

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price was up 0.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $168.64 and last traded at $168.13. Approximately 12,106,059 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 60,703,625 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.34.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $174.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Apple’s payout ratio is 14.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Wyrmwood Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its position in Apple by 118.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Apple by 16,252.3% during the first quarter. Summit Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,992,420 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 6,949,659 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.