Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 4.3% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Apple's stock price increased by 4.3% after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price target from $255.00 to $280.00, maintaining an overweight rating on the stock.
• Several analysts have provided mixed ratings on Apple, with two analysts giving it a Strong Buy rating, while a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" was established with a price target of $244.03.
• In recent trading, the volume for Apple stock saw an 82% increase compared to its average daily volume, reflecting heightened investor interest.

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) rose 4.3% on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $255.00 to $280.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $256.64 and last traded at $256.08. Approximately 105,016,851 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 82% from the average daily volume of 57,567,281 shares. The stock had previously closed at $245.50.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on AAPL. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $244.03.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 1.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 0.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224,229 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,942,638 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth about $38,942,255,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $225.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.22.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

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.