Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 0.8% on Analyst Downgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was down 0.8% during trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $265.00 to $260.00. The stock traded as low as $238.09 and last traded at $237.42. Approximately 10,431,853 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 55,421,129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $239.36.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Apple by 10.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Apple by 5.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 6.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 20,372.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $241.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.81.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.