Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Rating Lowered by Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from a hold rating to an underperform rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $200.75 target price on the iPhone maker’s stock, down from their previous target price of $211.84.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.14.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $223.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.79, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.20. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $241.07 and a 200 day moving average of $230.77.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in Apple by 8.6% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares during the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 52,910 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,144,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Busey Bank raised its position in Apple by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Busey Bank now owns 1,025,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $216,033,000 after purchasing an additional 7,805 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank lifted its stake in Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 83,106 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $17,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Bancorp Inc ME boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.3% during the second quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 30,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,361,000 after buying an additional 956 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% 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.