Jeffrey E. Williams Sells 35,493 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Apple Trading Down 9.2 %

Shares of AAPL traded down $20.70 on Thursday, reaching $203.19. 103,138,666 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 54,995,093. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.08 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $230.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $233.36.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth about $71,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their target price on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson set a $290.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $245.26.

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.