Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Lowered to “Hold” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $212.92 price objective on the iPhone maker’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $205.00.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on AAPL. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Apple from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Apple from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Melius Research reiterated a buy rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, New Street Research restated a neutral rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $239.27.

Apple Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $221.69 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $222.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $204.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 458,619 shares of company stock valued at $101,352,630 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,957,744 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $376,924,000 after purchasing an additional 32,099 shares during the period. Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $13,567,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $127,900,000. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in Apple by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 821,880 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,237,000 after purchasing an additional 61,600 shares during the period. Finally, Sar Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth $1,808,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% 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.