Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $280.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target upped by UBS Group from $220.00 to $280.00 in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $203.07 to $246.99 in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 price target (up from $245.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.39.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL stock opened at $270.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.03, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $277.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $248.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.34.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 110.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Nexus Investment Management ULC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 333.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $58,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.