Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) PT Raised to $275.00 at The Goldman Sachs Group

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its price target hoisted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $265.00 to $275.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Raymond James boosted their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Apple from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group reissued a neutral rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their target price for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $234.29.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $205.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $213.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $191.35. The company has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 145.35% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total value of $14,368,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,207,570.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. grew its holdings in Apple by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Ayalon Insurance Comp Ltd. now owns 51,949 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,002,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares during the period. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC now owns 184,781 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,576,000 after acquiring an additional 17,459 shares during the period. Carlson Capital Management grew its holdings in Apple by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Carlson Capital Management now owns 78,788 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,169,000 after acquiring an additional 7,271 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 57,793 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,127,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Lbmc Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Lbmc Investment Advisors LLC now owns 50,160 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,657,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. 60.41% 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.