Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after Wedbush downgraded the stock from an outperform rating to a neutral rating. The stock had previously closed at $213.32, but opened at $206.09. Apple shares last traded at $206.68, with a volume of 24,444,967 shares traded.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their target price on Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 23,555.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Down 3.7 %

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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.87%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.