Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Announces Earnings Results

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Apple Trading Up 6.0 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $183.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $172.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.57.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.00.

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.