Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Up 1.1% – Here’s Why

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) enjoyed a notable increase in its stock price, rising 1.1% on Friday. During trading, the stock reached a high of $236.18 before closing at $234.77. Throughout the day, a total of 17,238,824 shares were traded, which shows a significant decline of 71% from the average trading volume of 59,993,918 shares. The previous closing price was $232.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently provided insights on AAPL shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00, assigning an “outperform” rating in a report dated July 25th. Conversely, StockNews.com downgraded Apple's rating from “buy” to “hold” on October 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating with a price target of $245.00 in a report issued on September 9th. Additionally, UBS Group maintained a “hold” rating with a target price of $236.00, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating with a price target of $265.00 in a report on September 10th. Overall, one analyst issued a sell rating, while thirteen rated it as a hold, twenty-two analysts gave a buy rating, and one issued a strong buy rating. MarketBeat.com shows that Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” with a consensus target price of $239.27.

View Our Latest Stock Report on AAPL

Apple Stock Performance

The company presents a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91, and a current ratio of 0.95. Apple boasts a market cap of $3.60 trillion along with a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55 and a PEG ratio of 2.40. The stock's beta is 1.24, denoting a higher market volatility than this index. The 50-day moving average for Apple stands at $225.78, while the 200-day average is $208.11.

In its last earnings report, released on August 1st, Apple reported earnings of $1.40 per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The quarter generated revenues of $85.78 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of $84.43 billion. The company's return on equity was recorded at 147.15%, with a net margin of 26.44%. Year-over-year, the quarterly revenue reflected a 4.9% growth compared to the same period last year when earnings were $1.26 per share. Analysts expect Apple Inc. to post an EPS of 6.65 for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

Recently, Apple declared a quarterly dividend that was paid out on August 15th. Investors who were on record by August 12th received a dividend of $0.25 per share, with the ex-dividend date also falling on August 12th. This annualizes to a dividend of $1.00, resulting in a yield of 0.43%. The payout ratio stands at 15.55% for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, Apple CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares on October 2nd at an average price of $224.46, netting approximately $50,275,897.56. Post-sale, Cook directly holds 3,280,180 shares, valued at around $736,269,202.80. This transaction marked no change in his overall position. Additionally, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares on October 4th for about $13,433,768.60, which also represents no change in ownership percentage. In the past quarter, insiders sold 517,924 shares valued at $114,786,399, with company insiders owning 0.06% of the total stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Various hedge funds have altered their stakes in Apple recently. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings by 26.4%, now possessing 14,193 shares valued at $2,434,000 after additional purchases. CJM Wealth Advisers Ltd. raised its holdings by 0.5%, holding 18,528 shares now worth $3,177,000. Rise Advisors LLC enhanced its position by 133.9%, owning 4,523 shares worth $776,000 after further acquiring shares. Osher Van de Voorde Investment Management made a 10.0% increase, holding 101,555 shares valued at $17,415,000. Lastly, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp grew its share count by 3.2%, now owning 26,107 shares valued at $4,477,000. Overall, institutional investors and hedge funds hold 60.41% of Apple’s stock.

About Apple

Apple Inc. designs, builds, and markets an array of electronic devices including smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories. Key products include the iPhone series of smartphones, the Mac line of personal computers, the iPad series of multi-purpose tablets, and wearables like AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple TV, as well as products from Beats and HomePod.

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