Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 3.6% After Analyst Downgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares dropped 3.6% on Monday after Wedbush lowered their price target on the stock from $325.00 to $250.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Apple traded as low as $174.62 and last traded at $181.65. Approximately 69,175,548 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 25% from the average daily volume of 55,436,802 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.38.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total transaction of $7,950,786.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at $87,377,116.59. This represents a 8.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,451 shares of company stock valued at $40,818,720 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $229.45 and a 200-day moving average of $233.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

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.