Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $325.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on AAPL. DA Davidson set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.22.

Apple Stock Up 1.8 %

Apple stock opened at $213.49 on Friday. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.08 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $234.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $233.73. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,555.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% 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.