Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 2% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Apple's stock price increased by 2%, reaching a last traded price of $252.29, though trading volume decreased by 15% compared to the average.
• Research analysts have mixed ratings on Apple, with four analysts$248.29.
• CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock, reducing his ownership by 3.81% as part of recent insider transactions.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) shot up 2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $253.38 and last traded at $252.29. 48,005,498 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 56,252,520 shares. The stock had previously closed at $247.45.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $248.29.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business's revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple's payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. First National Bank of Hutchinson boosted its stake in Apple by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its holdings in Apple by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $12,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,155 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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