Apple’s (AAPL) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reissued their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Stock Target Advisor reports. The firm currently has a $250.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an overweight rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a buy rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a buy rating and issued a $261.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded shares of Apple from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $238.76.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

Apple stock opened at $226.80 on Tuesday. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $222.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $203.86.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 458,619 shares of company stock worth $101,352,630. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth approximately $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its stake in Apple by 23,076.4% in the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% 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.