Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $172.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.57. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $199.62.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.95%.

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Redburn Partners downgraded Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.00.

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.