Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 1,480,505 call options on the company. This is an increase of 46% compared to the average daily volume of 1,012,742 call options.
Insider Buying and Selling at Apple
In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 15,141,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,224,229 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $72,506,336,000 after buying an additional 4,942,638 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in Apple by 573,627.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth about $38,942,255,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Apple Stock Performance
NASDAQ AAPL traded up $10.58 on Monday, hitting $256.08. 105,286,841 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,632,036. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business's fifty day moving average is $224.35 and its 200 day moving average is $212.10. Apple has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Apple Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. 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%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Melius Research set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wedbush set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $244.03.
Read Our Latest Report on Apple
About Apple
(
Get Free Report)
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.
Featured Stories
Before you consider Apple, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Apple wasn't on the list.
While Apple currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Enter your email address and we'll send you MarketBeat's list of seven stocks and why their long-term outlooks are very promising.
Get This Free Report
