Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-four ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $205.44.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AAPL. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Apple from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush upped their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, DZ Bank restated a "hold" rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th.

Apple Stock Up 1.7 %

Apple stock traded up $3.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $189.98. 36,326,975 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 62,436,576. The business's 50 day moving average is $175.89 and its 200 day moving average is $183.04. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $199.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. Apple's revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Apple will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 371,270 shares of company stock worth $64,605,696 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 2,568,133 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $440,383,000 after buying an additional 29,162 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Invst LLC now owns 49,814 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $8,470,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Dodds Wealth LLC lifted its position in Apple by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Dodds Wealth LLC now owns 12,707 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,179,000 after buying an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its position in Apple by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 991,643 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $170,047,000 after buying an additional 119,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raelipskie Partnership lifted its position in Apple by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Raelipskie Partnership now owns 22,559 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,868,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% 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.