Apple’s (AAPL) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $273.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Maxim Group increased their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Apple Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $234.93 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $228.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.12. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth about $110,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.