Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target Raised to $325.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price increased by TD Cowen from $275.00 to $325.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 price target (up previously from $245.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.39.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $270.37 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $248.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $222.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $277.32.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. 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 is 13.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 110.9% in the third quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC grew its stake in Apple by 333.3% during the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at $58,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.