Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 1.7% – Here’s Why

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares traded down 1.7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $222.77 and last traded at $223.14. 11,769,973 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 58,776,707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $226.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.51.

Apple Trading Down 1.7 %

The company has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.70, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $226.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $214.68.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock worth $93,021,362. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Main Line Retirement Advisors LLC lifted its position in Apple by 54.5% during the first quarter. Main Line Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 5,193 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $891,000 after buying an additional 1,832 shares in the last quarter. Panoramic Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. Panoramic Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,747 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,671,000 after acquiring an additional 2,066 shares in the last quarter. Iams Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Iams Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,486 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 760,875 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $130,475,000 after purchasing an additional 10,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 37.2% in the first quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 114,539 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,641,000 after purchasing an additional 31,079 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently 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.