Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Downgraded by Rosenblatt Securities to “Neutral”

Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have $217.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.25.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $205.35 on Friday. Apple has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $212.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $228.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at $941,214. This trade represents a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Apple by 23,555.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

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.