Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Apple Trading Up 6.0 %

Shares of AAPL traded up $10.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $183.38. 163,110,196 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 62,045,676. The business has a 50-day moving average of $172.15 and a 200-day moving average of $181.57. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.72.

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.