Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 0.7% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) were down 0.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $249.43 and last traded at $250.42. Approximately 39,460,684 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 57,133,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $252.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.47.

Apple Trading Down 2.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $238.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.58.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Trust Co of the South boosted its position in shares of Apple by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 89,701 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,463,000 after purchasing an additional 15,758 shares during the period. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 11,509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,882,000 after buying an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. Old Port Advisors boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 39,970 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,009,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the period. Penney Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Penney Financial LLC now owns 7,852 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,829,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, SK Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth $3,304,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.