Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-five research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation, twenty-two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $314.8529.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 26th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, June 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 1,534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,675,650. The trade was a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total value of $369,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,226,770. This trade represents a 3.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,924 shares of company stock worth $825,546 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $69,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth $76,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $313.39 on Thursday. Apple has a 12-month low of $201.50 and a 12-month high of $317.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $297.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $274.68.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The firm 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 business earned $1.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is 13.06%.

Key Stories Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The Broadcom agreement should improve Apple’s supply chain resiliency, reduce reliance on overseas suppliers, and strengthen its domestic manufacturing story. Apple to increase spend with Broadcom to produce billions more U.S. chips
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street is also taking the deal as a sign that Apple is investing aggressively in its long-term chip and AI infrastructure, which could support future product launches and margin stability. Apple Announces Broadcom Chip Deal Worth More Than $30 Billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple also lost an EU court challenge to the bloc’s Digital Markets Act, leaving its App Store and iOS under tougher antitrust obligations in Europe, but investors appear to be focusing more on the chip deal today. EU court rejects Apple’s challenge against EU rules reining in Big Tech
• Neutral Sentiment: Separately, JPMorgan said recent hardware price increases are unlikely to hurt demand, reinforcing the view that Apple’s pricing power remains intact heading into earnings later this month. Apple price hikes unlikely to hurt demand, JPMorgan says as it raises PT

About Apple

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.