Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Posted by on Jul 20th, 2023

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $190.00 to $210.00. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $198.23 and last traded at $195.59, with a volume of 46695394 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $193.73.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, April 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 5th. 58.com restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, June 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Apple from $170.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.89.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $708,979.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,881,483.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. St. James Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 98.3% during the 4th quarter. St. James Investment Advisors LLC now owns 236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP increased its position in Apple by 200.0% during the third quarter. Cheyne Capital Management UK LLP now owns 275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its position in Apple by 21.7% during the first quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 448 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $60,000. 57.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $163.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $94.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.84 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 165.72% and a net margin of 24.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.30%.

Apple announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 4th that permits the company to buyback $90.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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