Apple’s (AAPL) “Underweight” Rating Reiterated at Barclays

Barclays restated their underweight rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Stock Target Advisor reports. Barclays currently has a $158.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Maxim Group started coverage on Apple in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a hold rating and a $178.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Apple from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $203.05.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $169.30 on Tuesday. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $199.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $173.04 and its 200 day moving average is $181.79. The stock has a market cap of $2.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 206,732,960 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,394,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,018,010 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after buying an additional 2,096,360 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.