Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading 1.5% Higher

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares traded up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $172.66 and last traded at $171.91. 19,338,124 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 59,947,543 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. DZ Bank reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.62.

Apple Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $172.38 and a 200 day moving average of $181.63. The company has a market cap of $2.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $84,378,155.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. increased its holdings in Apple by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. now owns 11,464 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,963,000 after buying an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in Apple by 13.6% in the third quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 172,823 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $29,589,000 after purchasing an additional 20,737 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1.7% in the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in Apple by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 75,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,461,000 after purchasing an additional 10,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS boosted its position in Apple by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,307,068 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $829,240,000 after purchasing an additional 279,311 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.