Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 0.6% Following Insider Selling

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded down 0.6% during trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $226.36 and last traded at $226.96. 8,885,263 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 58,285,961 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.28.

Specifically, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.25.

Apple Stock Up 0.3 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $227.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.40. The company has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Apple by 127.4% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 10.8% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 60,021 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,292,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares during the period. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. now owns 112,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $19,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162 shares during the period. Drexel Morgan & Co. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the first quarter. Drexel Morgan & Co. now owns 44,102 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,563,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 263,747 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $45,227,000 after buying an additional 1,275 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.