Barclays Increases Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $164.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price raised by Barclays from $158.00 to $164.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies lowered Apple to a neutral rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup decreased 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 set a $196.00 price target (up previously from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $204.11.

Apple Trading Up 6.0 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $183.38 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.67. The stock has a market cap 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a return on equity of 153.25% and a net margin of 26.31%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 14.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc bought a new position in Apple in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Gilfoyle & Co LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.