Evercore ISI Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Evercore ISI reissued their outperform rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $250.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. DA Davidson raised shares of Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Citigroup restated a buy rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. KeyCorp restated a hold rating and issued a $247.61 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on Apple in a report on Monday, August 19th. They set a neutral rating and a $211.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $239.17.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $228.87 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.59, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $222.45 and a 200 day moving average of $199.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. 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 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory boosted its position in Apple by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. grew its stake in Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% 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.