Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Downgraded by Loop Capital to “Hold”

Loop Capital cut shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Loop Capital currently has $230.00 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.02.

Apple Stock Down 3.2 %

AAPL opened at $222.64 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $241.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ETF Portfolio Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. ETF Portfolio Partners Inc. now owns 11,087 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,776,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,270,000. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Navis Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $598,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. MKT Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 13,754 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,163,000 after purchasing an additional 882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M3 Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 17,525 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,389,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.