Apple (AAPL) Scheduled to Post Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is scheduled to be announcing its earnings results after the market closes on Thursday, May 2nd. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $1.50 per share for the quarter. Parties that are interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect Apple to post $7 EPS for the current fiscal year and $7 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Apple Stock Up 2.5 %

AAPL opened at $173.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.77. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Redburn Atlantic cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $189.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.62.

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.