Apple’s (AAPL) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $220.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AAPL. Piper Sandler Companies cut Apple to a neutral rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. DZ Bank reaffirmed a hold rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $204.11.

Apple Stock Up 6.0 %

Apple stock opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $172.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 153.25% and a net margin of 26.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.93%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Hemington Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 149,874 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,701,000 after purchasing an additional 2,175 shares during the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 11.9% during the first quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 25,764 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,418,000 after buying an additional 2,732 shares during the period. Howland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the first quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 367,082 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $62,947,000 after buying an additional 7,091 shares during the last quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the first quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 24,932 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,276,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, Keener Financial Planning LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC now owns 5,497 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $943,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is 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.