Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 0.3%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares dropped 0.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $223.25 and last traded at $225.66. Approximately 17,884,703 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 64,521,246 shares. The stock had previously closed at $226.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, July 1st. DZ Bank restated a “hold” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. DA Davidson upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Apple from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.43.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $199.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $186.66. The stock has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total transaction of $951,809.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at $5,574,531.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 192,355 shares of company stock valued at $34,771,329. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,986,000 after buying an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 53,155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,236,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $38,406,000. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 132.8% in the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after buying an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.