Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $278.2184.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Argus set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Melius upped their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Melius Research set a $345.00 target price on Apple in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $325.00 target price on Apple in a report on Monday, November 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,095,030.54. This trade represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new stake in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,930,000. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the third quarter. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. now owns 108,095 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $27,524,000 after acquiring an additional 2,487 shares during the period. LWM Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.1% in the third quarter. LWM Advisory Services LLC now owns 30,022 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,648,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares during the period. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.6% during the third quarter. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC now owns 62,414 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $15,893,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.4% in the third quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,471 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,685,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $276.97 on Wednesday. Apple has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $280.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $261.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.92%.

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.