Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 3.1% on Analyst Downgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares were down 3.1% during trading on Monday after Wedbush downgraded the stock from an outperform rating to a neutral rating. The stock traded as low as $198.21 and last traded at $198.93. Approximately 20,561,888 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 56,060,659 shares. The stock had previously closed at $205.35.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on AAPL. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $197.00 to $173.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised Apple from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $235.80.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,631,980 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $584,642,000 after buying an additional 47,679 shares during the period. USAdvisors Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 3.5% during the first quarter. USAdvisors Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,924 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $871,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Elefante Mark B lifted its position in Apple by 15.2% in the first quarter. Elefante Mark B now owns 30,539 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,784,000 after purchasing an additional 4,040 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,252,066 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $278,121,000 after purchasing an additional 51,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tempus Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 36,299 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,063,000 after buying an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $210.55 and a 200-day moving average of $228.13.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

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