Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush restated their outperform rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $270.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on AAPL. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.73.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $238.47 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $212.92. The company has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.11. Apple has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $123,358,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224,229 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,942,638 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth $38,942,255,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.