Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 0.7%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 0.7% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $218.50 and last traded at $218.56. 10,134,732 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 60,988,328 shares. The stock had previously closed at $220.11.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.62.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $198.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the first quarter valued at $35,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $85,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.