Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation, twenty-three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $314.5882.

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, April 17th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, June 1st.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $291.13 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $285.64 and its 200-day moving average is $272.27. Apple has a 52-week low of $195.07 and a 52-week high of $317.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $4.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.20, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 8.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.06%.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s Services business posted record revenue in the fiscal second quarter, supported by ecosystem growth, AI-related updates, and its huge installed device base. Apple Continues to Expand Services Business: What’s the Path Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Several commentators said Apple still has strong fundamentals, including a solid balance sheet, loyal customer base, and products investors continue to love, which supports the long-term bull case. Jim Cramer on Apple: “It Still Has Products We All Love”
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Erste Group Bank raised their earnings estimates for Apple, signaling expectations for steady profit growth over the next two fiscal years. Apple earnings estimate update
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple’s WWDC announcements showed a clearer AI roadmap, including next-generation Siri features and device software updates, but the market appears to be waiting for stronger evidence that these changes will drive meaningful revenue growth. Apple Unveils Siri AI. Here’s Why It’s Not Impressing Investors
• Neutral Sentiment: Some coverage suggested Apple’s AI launch could help the stock over time, but it may take more than Siri upgrades alone to restore investor enthusiasm. Apple Just Gave Investors a Glimpse of Is AI Future at WWDC. It May Take More to Revive AAPL Stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are worried Apple’s AI ambitions are colliding with a memory-cost crunch, creating pricing pressure that could weigh on margins. Apple Faces a No-Win Pricing Dilemma. Should Investors Be Worried?
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports say the market was disappointed that Apple’s Siri AI reveal did not feel like a big enough breakthrough to justify a sharper rerating of the stock. Apple’s AI News Underwhelms. Siri AI Release Concerns Persist.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $421,850.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,675,650. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Overbrook Management Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 57.4% during the 4th quarter. Overbrook Management Corp now owns 104,648 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $28,449,000 after purchasing an additional 38,174 shares during the last quarter. Tufton Capital Management increased its position in shares of Apple by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 100,130 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,496,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,178,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Apple by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,044,697 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,915,172,000 after purchasing an additional 214,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,246,305 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $572,168,000 after acquiring an additional 116,960 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.