Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 2.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Apple's shares rose 2.2% following an upgrade from Citigroup, which raised its price target from $240.00 to $245.00, maintaining a buy rating on the stock.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, along with a significant $100 billion stock buyback plan, indicating management's confidence in the stock's value.
• Overall, Apple has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy from analysts, with an average target price of $237.25, reflecting bullish sentiment amid mixed analyst reviews.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) shares shot up 2.2% on Monday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $240.00 to $245.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $207.88 and last traded at $206.85. 19,003,533 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 56,707,086 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.38.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on AAPL. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Scotiabank cut shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.9% in 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. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Price Performance

The stock's fifty day moving average price is $205.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase 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.

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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