Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.06 EPS

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 145.35%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $1.50 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $219.86. 105,568,560 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 52,993,344. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $213.76 and a 200 day moving average of $191.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cfra boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.29.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.