Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) PT Raised to $164.00 at Barclays

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price increased by Barclays from $158.00 to $164.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $204.11.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $181.71 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $172.18 and its 200 day moving average is $181.72. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 14.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,378,155.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,200,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,815,594,000 after purchasing an additional 5,331,439 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Company Profile

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.