Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 0.4% After Analyst Downgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPLGet Free Report) shares fell 0.4% during mid-day trading on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $286.00 to $280.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as low as $222.53 and last traded at $222.76. 18,168,146 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 52,656,453 shares. The stock had previously closed at $223.66.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.05.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Apple

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after acquiring an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,121,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after purchasing an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $240.97 and a 200-day moving average of $230.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPLGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

About Apple

(Get Free Report)

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.

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