Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have $217.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. China Renaissance began coverage on Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $241.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $170.62 price target (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.25.

Apple Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $205.35 on Friday. Apple has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $212.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $228.63.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Apple will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $787,631,000 after acquiring an additional 588,427 shares in the last quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 2.5% during the third quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,457 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 7.4% during the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 482,411 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $112,402,000 after purchasing an additional 33,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. now owns 28,082 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,543,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.