Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $220.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on AAPL. Barclays decreased their price target on Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a buy rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group reiterated a hold rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on Apple in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a neutral rating and a $166.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $204.08.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $169.38 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.27. Apple has a twelve month low of $162.80 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 69.0% during the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP grew its position in shares of Apple by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP now owns 275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.