Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 0.1% – Time to Sell?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 0.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $230.52 and last traded at $231.51. 9,379,059 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 60,085,719 shares. The stock had previously closed at $231.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Moffett Nathanson assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 target price on the stock. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. KeyCorp restated a “hold” rating and issued a $247.61 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler Companies reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target (up previously from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $186.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.27.

Apple Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $225.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,026,492,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 23,076.4% in the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14,145.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Apple by 158.3% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,977,582,000 after buying an additional 7,067,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 161.2% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,502,068,000 after buying an additional 5,405,542 shares during the period. 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.