Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Up 1% – Time to Buy?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $245.05 and last traded at $243.99. Approximately 13,626,837 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 54,156,383 shares. The stock had previously closed at $241.53.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AAPL. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.52.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $240.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $231.41. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, 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 Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 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.