Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) COO Sells $13,550,347.80 in Stock

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’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 value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $226.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.23. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $222.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.86.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $190.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Loop Capital upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $247.61 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.76.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Apple by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after buying an additional 2,096,360 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,531,834,000 after buying an additional 1,067,587 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.