Apple’s (AAPL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Bank of America

Bank of America reissued their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $235.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.86.

Apple Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $199.20 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $201.28 and a 200 day moving average of $223.37. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. Apple has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in Apple by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 12,051 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,677,000 after buying an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth approximately $120,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 4.2% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,759 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,945,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 11.8% in the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 349,317 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,594,000 after buying an additional 36,974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 2.5% in the first quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,261,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.