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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) dropped 0.4% on Tuesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $275.00 to $245.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as low as $199.80 and last traded at $201.73. Approximately 16,336,654 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 56,797,500 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.52.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AAPL. UBS Group upped their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Apple from $295.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 390,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 182,451 shares of company stock worth $40,818,720. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Drystone LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 252.3% in the third quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the third quarter worth $71,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $221.65 and its 200 day moving average is $230.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

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.