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

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) from a hold rating to an underperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $200.75 price objective on the iPhone maker's stock, down from their prior price objective of $211.84.

AAPL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four investment 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $238.02.

Apple Trading Down 3.9 %

AAPL traded down $8.88 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $221.10. The company had a trading volume of 55,832,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,360,555. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.31, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $241.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.85.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % 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 hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Grange Capital LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,171,000. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 58,088 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,546,000 after acquiring an additional 2,136 shares during the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 13,773 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $3,449,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 33,119 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $8,294,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares during the period. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 50,600 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $12,671,000 after purchasing an additional 2,422 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.