Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given “Hold” Rating at UBS Group

UBS Group reissued their hold rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $190.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an overweight rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued a neutral rating and a $166.00 price objective on the stock. Redburn Partners downgraded shares of Apple to a neutral rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a buy rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $205.27.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $173.31 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Apple has a one year low of $155.98 and a one year high of $199.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $181.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.73.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 578,897,858 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $112,288,818,000 after buying an additional 2,616,084 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,002,245,000 after buying an additional 569,066,184 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 291,538,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $56,396,763,000 after buying an additional 6,367,053 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $38,589,468,000 after buying an additional 7,736,013 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.