Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to Repurchase $110.00 billion in Outstanding Shares

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Apple Trading Up 6.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded up $10.35 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $183.38. The stock had a trading volume of 163,110,196 shares, compared to its average volume of 62,045,676. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $199.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $172.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.57.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Maxim Group assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.72.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.