Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) shot up 2.3% during trading on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $280.00 to $290.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Apple traded as high as $269.12 and last traded at $268.81. 42,709,729 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 24% from the average session volume of 56,055,363 shares. The stock had previously closed at $262.82.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. CLSA raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.83.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on AAPL

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $290,506,933,000 after purchasing an additional 15,141,995 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224,229 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,942,638 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,942,255,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 2.3%

The stock has a market cap of $3.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $244.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $219.65.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.78%.

Apple Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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