Rosenblatt Securities Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Rosenblatt Securities restated their neutral rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $196.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $189.00.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on AAPL. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Apple from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $204.11.

Apple Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $181.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $199.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.72.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.93%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 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.