Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $265.00 to $260.00. The stock had previously closed at $229.98, but opened at $224.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Apple shares last traded at $221.45, with a volume of 16,863,271 shares changing hands.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other reports. New Street Research reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital downgraded Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $238.02.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Apple by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $219,829,700,000 after buying an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Down 3.2 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $241.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.85.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 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 the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.