Maxim Group Begins Coverage on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Maxim Group began coverage on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $178.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. DZ Bank reaffirmed a hold rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Redburn Partners cut Apple to a neutral rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price objective for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $203.34.

Apple Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $165.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. Apple has a 52-week low of $162.80 and a 52-week high of $199.62. The firm has a market cap of $2.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.70, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s fifty day moving average is $174.67 and its 200-day moving average is $182.04.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.95%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Wyrmwood Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 118.0% during the 4th quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 16,252.3% during the 1st quarter. Summit Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,992,420 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 6,949,659 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by 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.