Raymond James Issues Positive Forecast for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price objective raised by Raymond James to $250.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Stock Target Advisor reports. They currently have a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.99.

Apple Stock Up 0.5 %

AAPL stock opened at $223.83 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $241.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.81, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

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 transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the third quarter valued at $77,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.