Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 1.5% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded down 1.5% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $224.44 and last traded at $224.80. 12,990,123 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 58,515,477 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.22.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.51.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $226.96 and a 200 day moving average of $215.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Wealth Management increased its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management now owns 22,116 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,792,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Apple by 12.0% during the first quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 218,770 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $37,515,000 after purchasing an additional 23,511 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in Apple by 10.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 363,789 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $62,383,000 after purchasing an additional 34,514 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 17.0% during the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 23,718 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,067,000 after purchasing an additional 3,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accel Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Apple by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 26,559 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.