Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $270.00

Key Points

• Apple's price target has been raised from $245.00 to $270.00 by analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt, indicating a potential upside of 30.08% from the company's previous close.
• Apple recently reported earnings of $1.57 per share, beating estimates of $1.43, with revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, surpassing analyst expectations.
• The company has announced a $100 billion share buyback plan, reflecting management's belief that its stock is undervalued.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) had its price target lifted by Monness Crespi & Hardt from $245.00 to $270.00 in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker's stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $237.25.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $5.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $202.38. The stock had a trading volume of 97,423,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 44,912,472. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.71, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $205.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.77.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 172.48%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oarsman Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.2% in the second quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 42,016 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $8,620,000 after acquiring an additional 2,094 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.9% in the second quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 32,258 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $6,618,000 after acquiring an additional 2,091 shares during the last quarter. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Winebrenner Capital Management LLC now owns 19,435 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,988,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.2% in the second quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 3,193 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $655,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.0% in the second quarter. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 28,269 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $5,800,000 after acquiring an additional 831 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.