KeyCorp Reiterates “Underweight” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

KeyCorp reissued their underweight rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. KeyCorp currently has a $200.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the topic of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Thursday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.52.

Apple Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $236.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.82, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $241.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.84.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.