Apple’s (AAPL) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their overweight rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $235.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AAPL. Bank of America cut their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James cut their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. China Renaissance started coverage on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $241.00 target price on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.02.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $203.92 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s fifty day moving average is $201.17 and its 200 day moving average is $224.15. Apple has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

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

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock valued at $42,694,080. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.2% in the third quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 67,598 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $15,750,000 after buying an additional 770 shares during the period. MayTech Global Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 13.0% in the third quarter. MayTech Global Investments LLC now owns 194,132 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $45,233,000 after buying an additional 22,284 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Apple by 4.0% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 8,039,914 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,873,300,000 after buying an additional 308,469 shares during the period. Fiduciary Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 1,602,167 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $373,305,000 after buying an additional 8,651 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of Apple by 15.8% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 4,080,886 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $950,846,000 after purchasing an additional 556,375 shares in the last quarter. 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.