Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $317.40 and last traded at $308.1680, with a volume of 34872342 shares. The stock had previously closed at $307.34.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Apple’s upgraded Siri AI won praise for being more capable and personal, but the rollout is delayed until later this year and will start as an English-only beta in the U.S., with Europe and China facing additional delays.
• Negative Sentiment: The Siri refresh depends in part on Google’s Gemini models, reinforcing worries that Apple still lacks a fully independent AI stack and may need to share economics with Alphabet.
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts and technical observers flagged the post-WWDC move as a sell signal, with concerns that the market had priced in a more dramatic AI leap than Apple actually delivered.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Friday, May 1st. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $276.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.59.

Apple Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $283.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $271.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total transaction of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,226,770. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Isthmus Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 5,808 shares during the period. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 110.9% during the third quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.