Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 1.7%

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) were up 1.7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $216.49 and last traded at $216.10. Approximately 24,675,018 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 62,685,906 shares. The stock had previously closed at $212.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Apple from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.47.

Apple Stock Up 2.5 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $183.77 and its 200 day moving average is $184.01.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.52 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

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

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.