Insider Selling: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Sells 108,136 Shares of Stock

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Apple Trading Down 7.3 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $188.38 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $229.45 and its 200 day moving average is $232.96. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.08 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Drystone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Maxim Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.26.

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.