Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 1.7% – Here’s Why

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price shot up 1.7% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $240.16 and last traded at $239.43. 11,628,315 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 53,279,583 shares. The stock had previously closed at $235.33.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on AAPL shares. KeyCorp restated an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.88.

Apple Stock Up 1.6 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $237.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $234.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Simplify Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $210,000. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC now owns 16,940 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,568,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 26.4% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,639,277 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $345,265,000 after buying an additional 341,961 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Apple by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,446,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $304,632,000 after buying an additional 32,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 6,323,592 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,331,874,000 after acquiring an additional 960,937 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.