Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 2.1% – What’s Next?

by · The Markets Daily

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report)’s stock price was down 2.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $245.70 and last traded at $253.50. Approximately 60,997,882 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 28% from the average daily volume of 47,542,309 shares. The stock had previously closed at $258.86.

Key Headlines Impacting Apple

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Apple from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Scotiabank set a $330.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Apple from $239.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Stephens set a $315.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $297.58.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on AAPL

Apple Stock Down 2.1%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $260.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $263.70. The firm has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The iPhone maker reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $143.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.25 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 159.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.15%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at $833,980,668.14. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total transaction of $7,661,010.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,934,433.50. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,266,468,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 98,917.0% during the 2nd quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,106,000 after purchasing an additional 57,898,088 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 890.7% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 41,984,810 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,413,990,000 after purchasing an additional 37,746,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 20,464.8% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,553,753,000 after purchasing an additional 26,937,401 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

(Get Free Report)

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.

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