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

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS.

Apple Stock Up 6.0 %

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

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 positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.95%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler Companies cut Apple to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.