Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Given New $260.00 Price Target at Evercore ISI

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had its target price raised by Evercore ISI to $260.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Stock Target Advisor reports. Evercore ISI currently has a buy rating on the iPhone maker’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on AAPL. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Moffett Nathanson reissued a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price objective (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Apple from $280.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.52.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $245.83 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $240.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $232.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.02, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after acquiring an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently 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.