Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) gapped up before the market opened on Monday after KeyCorp upgraded the stock from an underweight rating to a sector weight rating. The stock had previously closed at $198.15, but opened at $211.44. Apple shares last traded at $204.75, with a volume of 30,885,025 shares changing hands.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Maxim Group upped their target price on Apple to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 3.7% in 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. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 3.3 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.16. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.87%.

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.