Monness Crespi & Hardt Raises Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $205.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price upped by Monness Crespi & Hardt from $200.00 to $205.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a report on Thursday, January 18th. 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. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $204.11.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $183.38 on Friday. 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 $164.07 and a 52-week high of $199.62. The company has a fifty day moving average of $172.17 and a 200-day moving average of $181.67. The stock 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 153.25%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Apple will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.25 dividend. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.93%.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total value of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14,395.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,430,190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,815,594,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331,439 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.