Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $305.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective increased by Morgan Stanley from $298.00 to $305.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Apple from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.39.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $270.37 on Friday. Apple has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $277.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.34. The firm has a market cap 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 quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, 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 $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value 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 $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth about $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 98,917.0% during the 2nd quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,106,000 after acquiring an additional 57,898,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 20,464.8% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,553,753,000 after acquiring an additional 26,937,401 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.