Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 3.6% Following Analyst Downgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 3.6% on Monday after Wedbush lowered their price target on the stock from $325.00 to $250.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Apple traded as low as $174.62 and last traded at $181.65. 69,175,548 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 25% from the average session volume of 55,436,802 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.38.

Several other research firms have also commented on AAPL. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $263.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.05.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,072,269.86. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. O Connor Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 3,578 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $896,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the third quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,260,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC raised its position in Apple by 0.4% in the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,848,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Trading Down 3.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $228.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.82.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Apple Company Profile

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.