Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 0.3% – Here’s Why

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) dropped 0.3% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $243.37 and last traded at $243.78. Approximately 9,557,425 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 53,489,277 shares. The stock had previously closed at $244.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Apple Trading Up 0.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $240.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its 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 return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.87%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Childress Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 5.8% in the second quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 51,250 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,794,000 after purchasing an additional 2,806 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Apple by 0.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 4,252,860 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $895,737,000 after purchasing an additional 37,670 shares during the last quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC raised its position in Apple by 4.3% in the second quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP raised its position in Apple by 3.6% in the second quarter. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP now owns 8,536 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 3.8% in the second quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 118,904 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $25,044,000 after purchasing an additional 4,365 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.