Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.3% After Analyst Upgrade

21 Oct 2024, 11:36 by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat Gem

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) traded up 0.3% on Monday after Loop Capital raised their price target on the stock to $300.00. Loop Capital currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $236.09 and last traded at $235.73. 8,058,778 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 59,881,887 shares. The stock had previously closed at $235.00.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $261.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Cfra increased their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.27.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Apple

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Stableford Capital II LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 17,156 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,942,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in Apple by 80.5% during the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 102,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $17,575,000 after purchasing an additional 45,701 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 66.6% during the first quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 31,446 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,392,000 after purchasing an additional 12,568 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank grew its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the first quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 293,179 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $50,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the first quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 287,242 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $49,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,118 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $225.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.66, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

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