Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Saturday . The stock traded as high as $237.81 and last traded at $237.33, with a volume of 28481377 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $234.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp downgraded Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $229.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $219.59. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Apple by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

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.