Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $260.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on AAPL. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $225.00 target price (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. DA Davidson raised Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Cfra increased their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler restated a neutral rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $239.17.

Apple Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $228.20 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $222.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $200.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23.

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. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Apple will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in 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 increased its stake in Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Core Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Apple by 1.7% in the second quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $949,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.