Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 1.7% - Here's What Happened

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 1.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $209.90 and last traded at $208.67. Approximately 34,163,398 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 53,460,272 shares. The stock had previously closed at $205.17.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. UBS Group set a $210.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $234.95.

Apple Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $311,157,662,000 after acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

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.