Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to Repurchase $100.00 billion in Stock

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $7.97 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $205.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 100,891,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,620,753. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $212.15 and a 200-day moving average of $228.63. Apple has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $233.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.