Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Gap Down to $222.50

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $222.50, but opened at $216.54. Apple shares last traded at $215.87, with a volume of 14,038,723 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.17.

Apple Trading Up 2.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.32, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $222.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $199.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisory lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 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.