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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares fell 0.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $224.62 and last traded at $225.49. 6,592,560 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 61,257,238 shares. The stock had previously closed at $226.78.

Specifically, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $261.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $186.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.76.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $222.90 and a 200 day moving average of $203.86.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. purchased a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. lifted its holdings in Apple by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% 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.