Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 1.4% – Here’s What Happened

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price fell 1.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $229.84 and last traded at $230.49. 12,201,508 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 60,223,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $233.85.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AAPL. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.27.

Apple Stock Down 1.2 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $224.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.04. 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 $3.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.96, 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 0.3% in the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 16,929 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,566,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisory grew its position in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Financial Advisory now owns 1,364 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Core Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,968 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC lifted its position in Apple by 0.7% during the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 4,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 51 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.