Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $300.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target raised by Evercore ISI from $290.00 to $300.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. CLSA upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $279.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Phillip Securities downgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, September 11th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.39.

Apple Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $270.37 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $248.34 and a 200-day moving average of $222.34. The company has a market capitalization of $4.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $277.32.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders 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 is Monday, November 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $290,506,933,000 after acquiring an additional 15,141,995 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Apple by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after buying an additional 5,224,229 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after buying an additional 4,942,638 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,942,255,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.