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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-six analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $243.88.

A number of analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Apple to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Maxim Group raised their price target on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $241.76 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $239.60 and a 200 day moving average of $233.58. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.37, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 23,555.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.