Apple (AAPL) Set to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is set to release its earnings data after the market closes on Thursday, May 2nd. Analysts expect Apple to post earnings of $1.50 per share for the quarter. Parties that are interested in participating in the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect Apple to post $7 EPS for the current fiscal year and $7 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $173.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $172.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler Companies cut shares of Apple to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.62.

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.