Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 1.5% - Here's Why

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 1.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $250.75 and last traded at $251.68. 9,088,353 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 57,095,258 shares. The stock had previously closed at $255.59.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $256.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $237.47.

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Apple Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $237.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $227.89. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.48, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 0.40%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 8.6% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 29,751 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $6,266,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 27.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,343 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,658 shares during the period. Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its position in Apple by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 63,404 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $14,046,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ellenbecker Investment Group now owns 36,816 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $7,754,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 19,185 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $4,041,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% 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.