Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 0.5%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $168.30 and last traded at $167.79. 12,136,799 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 60,274,887 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.90.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Maxim Group initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.05.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.14, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $29,589,000 after purchasing an additional 20,737 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,461,000 after purchasing an additional 10,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $829,240,000 after purchasing an additional 279,311 shares in 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.