Evercore ISI Increases Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Price Target to $260.00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price hoisted by Evercore ISI to $260.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Stock Target Advisor reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Maxim Group increased their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $262.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $244.85.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Apple stock opened at $245.55 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $240.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,625 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,918,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,451,000. Aurdan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $856,000. PVG Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $672,000. Finally, Perennial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,508,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.