Apple Inc. (AAPL) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the fifty-five brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, forty have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $169.10.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Apple from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Macquarie reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $156.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th.

In other Apple news, insider Craig Federighi sold 63,163 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.07, for a total transaction of $9,984,175.41. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 359,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,903,303.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP D Bruce Sewell sold 31,625 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.13, for a total transaction of $5,000,861.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 112,430 shares in the company, valued at $17,778,555.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 287,962 shares of company stock worth $44,702,313. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vantage Financial Partners Ltd. Inc. acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth about $400,000. Blue Sky Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth about $108,000. FNY Managed Accounts LLC increased its position in Apple by 852.4% in the second quarter. FNY Managed Accounts LLC now owns 800 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Hefty Wealth Partners increased its position in Apple by 27.6% in the second quarter. Hefty Wealth Partners now owns 804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Beacon Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Apple during the first quarter worth about $117,000. Institutional investors own 61.50% of the company’s stock.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) opened at 159.85 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $150.31 and a 200 day moving average of $144.88. The firm has a market cap of $825.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.15 and a beta of 1.31. Apple has a 1-year low of $102.53 and a 1-year high of $161.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.10. Apple had a net margin of 20.87% and a return on equity of 35.40%. The business had revenue of $45.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple will post $9.02 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $50.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 10th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 28.64%.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc (Apple) designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The Company’s products and services include iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, and a variety of accessory, service and support offerings.