Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $220.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a neutral rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an overweight rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $204.08.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $169.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.27. Apple has a one year low of $162.80 and a one year high of $199.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. 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 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Apple by 2.6% during the first quarter. Searcy Financial Services Inc. ADV now owns 49,490 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,487,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241 shares in the last quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 0.7% during the first quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 44,631 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $7,653,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 2.3% during the first quarter. Monumental Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,154 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 12.4% during the first quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 136,901 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $23,476,000 after acquiring an additional 15,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its holdings in Apple by 14.4% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 74,025 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,694,000 after acquiring an additional 9,297 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% 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.