Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) fell 2.2% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $196.00 and last traded at $197.61. 16,848,166 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 56,712,752 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.14.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price target on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.85.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Apple
Apple Price Performance
The company has a market cap of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $219.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.
Apple Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.87%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total transaction of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Trading of Apple
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Apple by 21.1% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $787,631,000 after acquiring an additional 588,427 shares during the period. Latitude Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,016,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its position in Apple by 34.7% in the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 591,599 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $137,843,000 after buying an additional 152,310 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 702,624 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $163,711,000 after buying an additional 8,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the third quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 956,855 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $222,947,000 after acquiring an additional 33,596 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
About Apple
(
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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.
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