Apple's (AAPL) "Outperform" Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Wedbush currently has a $270.00 price objective on the iPhone maker's stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.86.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock traded down $2.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $200.66. 29,731,721 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 55,952,120. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $200.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $223.77. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. 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 $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

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

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Drystone LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the first quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by 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.