Apple’s (AAPL) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $325.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on AAPL. DA Davidson set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.22.

Apple Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $213.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.89, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $234.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.82. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.08 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Drystone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. 67.73% 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.