Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Announces Earnings Results

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04, Zacks reports. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock traded down $1.74 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $237.62. The company had a trading volume of 46,368,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,284,332. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.81.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given 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 target price of $238.05.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.