Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 3.4%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares fell 3.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $224.53 and last traded at $225.17. 20,721,217 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 61,471,402 shares. The stock had previously closed at $233.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $186.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.76.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $222.37 and its 200-day moving average is $202.80.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc bought a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. raised its stake in shares of Apple by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $85,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.