Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) PT Raised to $275.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target upped by Wedbush from $250.00 to $275.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports 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 report on Monday, April 29th. DZ Bank restated a hold rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $205.44.

Apple Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $189.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $199.62. The company has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $175.89 and a 200-day moving average of $183.03.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 148.33% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value 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. Insiders have sold 371,270 shares of company stock valued at $64,605,696 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wyrmwood Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% 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.