Bank of America Corporation restated their buy rating on shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, August 2nd. They currently have a $180.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock, up from their previous price target of $175.00.
AAPL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) reiterated a buy rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. UBS AG set a $151.00 target price on Apple and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a neutral rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, April 17th. FBN Securities upped their target price on Apple from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG reiterated a hold rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $167.33.
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded up 1.09% during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $161.60. 29,465,487 shares of the stock were exchanged. The stock has a market cap of $834.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.35 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $150.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $145.17. Apple has a one year low of $102.53 and a one year high of $162.20.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.10. Apple had a return on equity of 35.40% and a net margin of 20.87%. The firm had revenue of $45.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple will post $9.02 earnings per share for the current year.
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The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 14th will be given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 10th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.64%.
Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.
In other news, insider Craig Federighi sold 64,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.62, for a total transaction of $9,908,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 447,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,691,336.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.58, for a total transaction of $5,515,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,168,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $184,098,035.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 287,962 shares of company stock valued at $44,702,313. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.
Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Koch Industries Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 14,147.1% in the second quarter. Koch Industries Inc. now owns 486,397 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 482,983 shares in the last quarter. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA boosted its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the second quarter. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA now owns 24,297 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,499,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. High Falls Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Apple by 0.8% in the second quarter. High Falls Advisors Inc now owns 13,880 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 40,272 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,800,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. bought a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $4,280,000. 61.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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.
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