Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-four brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $235.80.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $170.62 price target (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday. China Renaissance initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $2.19 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $200.63. The company had a trading volume of 55,012,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 58,125,285. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $201.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $224.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 764,075 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $192,700,000 after buying an additional 83,997 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the third quarter valued at $4,972,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 28,626 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $6,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berkshire Bank grew its holdings in Apple by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 89,580 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $22,433,000 after acquiring an additional 2,360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% 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.