Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 0.2% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 0.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $253.45 and last traded at $254.02. 9,838,711 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 57,481,383 shares. The stock had previously closed at $254.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.78.

Apple Stock Up 1.1 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $235.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.77. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value 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 approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC raised its position in Apple by 252.3% during the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda purchased a new position in Apple during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at $77,000. 67.73% 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.