Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shot up 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $168.30 and last traded at $167.79. 12,136,799 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 60,274,887 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.90.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.05.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

The company has a market cap of $2.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $173.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $182.03.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 4th 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 period. Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,815,594,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.