Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Insider Sells $933,940.34 in Stock

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Apple Stock Down 0.3%

Apple stock opened at $212.33 on Thursday. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $206.60 and its 200 day moving average is $226.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the first quarter worth about $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Apple by 10.6% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $215.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 target price (up previously from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wedbush downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Company Profile

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.