Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 0.3%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price fell 0.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $227.48 and last traded at $229.00. 52,990,699 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 61,696,328 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, July 1st. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, August 5th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.30.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $3.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $221.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $195.93.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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 $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was 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 owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Creekside Partners acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $8,230,000. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,405,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $11,178,000. RiverFront Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Apple by 13.2% in the second quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 275,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $58,068,000 after purchasing an additional 32,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gibson Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 15.0% during the second quarter. Gibson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,894 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,452,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. 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.