Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $316.3235.

Several equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up from $310.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $421,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,675,650. This represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 116 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.14, for a total value of $34,236.24. Following the sale, the insider owned 38,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,425,754.82. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,924 shares of company stock valued at $825,546. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,426,283,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $387,749,545,000 after purchasing an additional 26,856,752 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 604,056,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $164,218,801,000 after purchasing an additional 6,555,392 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 358,032,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $97,031,587,000 after buying an additional 1,866,103 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,483,035 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $62,659,118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,266,468,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citi raised its price target on Apple to $365 from $315 and kept a Buy rating, saying Apple should keep gaining market share and may benefit from premium iPhone demand, selective price increases, and an upcoming iPhone 18 launch as a catalyst. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports highlighted Apple’s stock hitting record highs, with analysts arguing the company is benefiting from relative restraint on AI spending versus peers and that investors still see more upside after the recent rally. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Apple was also tied to a reported acquisition of open-source observability developer SigScalr, which could support its internal data and software tooling efforts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: News that Apple sued OpenAI over alleged trade-secret theft is generating headlines and could help Apple strategically if it protects future AI hardware plans, but it also adds legal uncertainty and keeps pressure on the company’s AI narrative. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Apple’s AI strategy, including reports that it may accelerate chip releases, reflects investor focus on whether the company can keep up in AI-enabled hardware without ramping spending as aggressively as rivals. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The OpenAI lawsuit could intensify Apple’s legal battles, including renewed scrutiny of App Store fees and broader competitive risks, which may create headline volatility even if the core business remains strong. Article Title

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $317.31 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $300.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $275.60. Apple has a one year low of $201.50 and a one year high of $323.45. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple will post 8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.06%.

About Apple

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.