Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given New $215.00 Price Target at Canaccord Genuity Group

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target raised by Canaccord Genuity Group from $200.00 to $215.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group restated a hold rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $204.00.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded up $10.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $183.38. The company had a trading volume of 163,224,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 59,692,680. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $172.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.57. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 153.25%. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Apple will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.