Apple’s (AAPL) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays reduced their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank downgraded Apple to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $211.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $206.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.67. Apple has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.20%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,533 shares in the company, valued at $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC now owns 13,320 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,104,000 after buying an additional 1,158 shares during the last quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,498 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,980,000 after buying an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 28,062 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,538,000 after buying an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,652 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $851,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC grew its position in shares of Apple by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 7,939 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,850,000 after buying an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.