Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 0.1% – Should You Sell?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price fell 0.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $251.31 and last traded at $251.95. 6,249,141 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 56,999,625 shares. The stock had previously closed at $252.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AAPL. KeyCorp cut Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.47.

Apple Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $238.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 163,435 shares of company stock valued at $39,376,002 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after buying an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.