Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 1.7% Higher – Here’s Why

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares rose 1.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $239.42 and last traded at $240.87. Approximately 12,178,689 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 54,154,785 shares. The stock had previously closed at $236.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Apple Trading Up 2.0 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $231.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Drystone LLC bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% 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.