Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Research Coverage Started at Maxim Group

Maxim Group began coverage on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a hold rating and a $178.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the subject of several other reports. DZ Bank restated a hold rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup restated a buy rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $203.34.

Apple Trading Down 0.8 %

AAPL opened at $168.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.27. 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 has a twelve month low of $162.80 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. Apple’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. Analysts predict that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 2,615,701 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $456,728,000 after buying an additional 435,891 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 240,628 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,016,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Markel Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 0.7% in the first quarter. Markel Corp now owns 1,206,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $210,752,000 after acquiring an additional 8,450 shares during the last quarter. Camden Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Camden Capital LLC now owns 156,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,305,000 after acquiring an additional 13,200 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Island Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Island Capital LLC now owns 135,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,629,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by 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.