Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 1.7%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares fell 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $217.48 and last traded at $219.05. 15,849,393 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 61,358,957 shares. The stock had previously closed at $222.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Raymond James boosted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.62.

Apple Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $222.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% during the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,584,512,000 after buying an additional 9,200,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.