Moffett Nathanson Reaffirms Sell Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Moffett Nathanson reiterated their sell rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Moffett Nathanson currently has a $188.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock, down from their previous price target of $202.00.

AAPL has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.64.

Apple Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $242.70 on Tuesday. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $239.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $229.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Apple by 2.7% in the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.8% during 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 during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted 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 worth $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 12.8% in the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $59,122,000 after purchasing an additional 28,799 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.