Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Up 0% After Analyst Upgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) saw its stock price remain unchanged at 0% during trading on Tuesday following an upgrade from Wells Fargo & Company. The firm increased its price target for Apple’s shares to $275.00 and maintains a buy rating on the stock. During trading, Apple reached a high of $247.79 before last being traded at $246.80. There were 7,815,164 shares traded during the day, which is a notable decrease of 86% compared to the average trading volume of 57,475,996 shares. The stock's previous close was at $246.75.

Additional Analyst Insights

Several other financial institutions have also shared their perspectives on Apple. Needham & Company LLC recently reaffirmed a "buy" rating with a price target of $260.00 as noted in their report released on November 1st. Morgan Stanley also reiterated an "overweight" rating, setting a target price of $273.00 as mentioned in their research published on November 25th. Furthermore, Citigroup raised its price target for Apple to $185.00 while issuing a "buy" rating in a report on October 23rd. Tigress Financial upgraded their target from $245.00 to $295.00, stating a strong buy in their August 28th report. Lastly, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target on November 1st from $261.00 to $262.00 while maintaining a buy rating. Overall, two analysts have rated the stock as a sell, twelve have given it a hold rating, twenty-three have issued buy ratings, and one has provided a strong buy rating, leading to an average rating categorized as "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target price of $236.78.

Insider Trading Activities

In recent developments regarding insider trading, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares on October 4th, at an average price of $226.52, totaling approximately $13.43 million. After the transaction, he retained ownership of 107,788 shares, now valued at around $24.42 million. This sale represented a decline of 35.49% in his stock ownership. Another insider, Chris Kondo, sold 4,130 shares on November 18th at an average price of $228.87, for a total of about $945,233. The sale reduced his position by 21.13%. In the last three months, insiders have sold a cumulative total of 408,170 shares, valued at about $92 million, and insiders currently hold 0.06% of Apple's stock.

Institutional Investor Changes

Changes in institutional investments have also been noteworthy. State Street Corp increased its holdings of Apple stock by 10.6% in the third quarter, now owning more than 584 million shares valued at approximately $136 billion after acquiring an additional 55.9 million shares. Similarly, FMR LLC boosted its stake by 5.3%, owning 363 million shares worth around $84.78 billion after acquiring an additional 18.2 million shares in the last quarter. Additionally, Geode Capital Management increased its holdings by 6.5%, owning about 334 million shares valued near $77.54 billion. Charles Schwab Investment Management raised its position by 6.6%, now owning roughly 95 million shares valued at about $22.12 billion. Lastly, International Assets Investment Management increased its holdings in Apple dramatically by over 20,000%, owning around 94 million shares worth approximately $219.83 billion. Overall, institutional investors and hedge funds control 67.73% of Apple's stock.

Apple’s Financial Performance

As a company with a market capitalization of $3.72 trillion, Apple has a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.59 and a P/E/G ratio of 2.38, with a beta of 1.23. The company's 50-day moving average price stands at $230.80, while its 200-day moving average price is $222.26. Financial health indicators include a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87, and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple’s latest quarterly earnings report, made available on October 31st, showed earnings of $1.64 per share, surpassing analyst estimates of $1.60. The company's revenue for the quarter reached $94.93 billion, exceeding projections of $94.52 billion, marking a year-over-year increase in revenue by 6.1%, compared to $1.46 in EPS from the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Apple will report 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Dividend Announcement

The company also announced a quarterly dividend that was paid out on November 14th. Shareholders on record as of November 11th received a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was November 8th, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.00, reflecting a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio stands at 16.45%.

Overview of Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. specializes in designing, manufacturing, and marketing a wide range of products including smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and various accessories globally. The company offers products like the iPhone series, Mac computers, iPads, as well as wearables such as AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.

Apple, Stock, Trading