Morgan Stanley Boosts Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $235.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the iPhone maker's stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on AAPL. Argus upgraded Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Loop Capital cut shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $230.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $233.25.

Apple Trading Down 4.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $9.32 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $204.00. The stock had a trading volume of 66,471,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 59,122,438. The company's 50 day moving average price is $212.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.83. 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 twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 period. 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 buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.