Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $220.00 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Maxim Group initiated coverage on Apple in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a hold rating and a $178.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays restated an underweight rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $204.00.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $10.35 on Friday, hitting $183.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 163,224,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 59,692,680. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a PEG ratio of 2.09 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.57. Apple has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 153.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC now owns 6,716 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,155,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Corporation increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% 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.