Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 1.5% – What’s Next?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price fell 1.5% on Friday . The company traded as low as $254.50 and last traded at $255.03. 9,851,505 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 57,154,902 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.02.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Maxim Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.47.

Apple Trading Down 1.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $237.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $227.21.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 508,170 shares of company stock worth $117,004,745 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Financial Symmetry Inc raised its holdings in Apple by 0.5% in the second quarter. Financial Symmetry Inc now owns 11,796 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 7.4% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 51,628 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,874,000 after buying an additional 3,573 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank increased its holdings in Apple by 1.0% in the second quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 41,290 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,696,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Apple by 2.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,000,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $421,296,000 after buying an additional 45,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 160,336 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,317,000 after acquiring an additional 12,086 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% 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.