Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 0.7% – Here’s Why

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) dropped 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $227.17 and last traded at $227.97. Approximately 6,877,672 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 60,595,707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $261.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $186.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.27.

Apple Trading Down 0.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $223.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $205.70. The stock has a market cap of $3.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.39, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% during the third quarter. BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,577 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 86,154 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $20,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135 shares during the period. Iams Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 16.0% in the third quarter. Iams Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,937 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 9,615,504 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,206,870,000 after buying an additional 493,995 shares during the period. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 877,420 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $204,439,000 after buying an additional 3,909 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

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.