Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 0.9%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price traded down 0.9% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $164.82 and last traded at $165.58. 18,880,321 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 60,528,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.04.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Maxim Group began coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler Companies downgraded Apple to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $166.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.34.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $175.15 and a 200-day moving average of $182.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The firm had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total transaction of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Apple in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Wyrmwood Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 16,252.3% in the first quarter. Summit Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,992,420 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 6,949,659 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently 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.