Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Earns Overweight Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $273.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America reissued a buy rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Erste Group Bank raised Apple from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $234.29.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $2.93 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $216.24. The company had a trading volume of 42,201,646 shares, compared to its average volume of 63,734,754. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.63, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $192.04. 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 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.58, for a total transaction of $14,368,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was 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 directly owns 4,359,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,207,570.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 179,999 shares of company stock valued at $35,964,310. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after buying an additional 1,643 shares in the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 132.8% during the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,283,000 after acquiring an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,782,000. 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.