Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Raised to Buy at Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $260.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock, up from their previous price target of $196.00.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a buy rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. DA Davidson raised Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $215.71.

Apple Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $210.62 on Wednesday. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $220.20. 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’s fifty day moving average is $192.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.46. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock worth $60,880,196 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after acquiring an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.