Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 176,299 shares of the company in a trade dated Monday, October 3. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.16, for a total value of $25,062,665.84. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,290 shares of the company, valued at approximately $19,374,986.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available via this link.
Apple stock performance
AAPL stock traded at $3.65 during Tuesday’s trading, hitting $146.10. 87,131,427 shares of the company were traded, with an average volume of 89,484,594. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $159.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is 155.10 $. The company has a debt ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.04 and a 1-year high of $182.94.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 28. The iPhone maker reported EPS of $1.20 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 152.97% and a net margin of 25.71%. The company posted revenue of $82.96 billion for the quarter, versus analyst estimates of $82.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned earnings per share of $1.30. Apple’s quarterly revenue increased by 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, stock analysts expect Apple Inc. to post earnings per share of 6.1 for the current fiscal year.
Apple announces dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 11. Shareholders of record on Monday August 8 received a dividend of $0.23. This represents an annualized dividend of $0.92 and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 5. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.18%.
Apple Institutional Trading
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new equity stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,228,507,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Apple by 30,391.8% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,075,085 shares of the iPhone maker worth $149,333,000 after buying an additional 25,989,570 shares last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Apple by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 633,115,246 shares of the iPhone maker worth $112,422,274,000 after buying an additional 10,951,705 shares last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Apple by 8.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 123,534,393 shares of the iPhone maker worth $16,889,649,000 after buying an additional 9,411,018 shares last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Apple by 31.7% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 38,903,911 shares of the iPhone maker worth $6,793,041,000 after buying an additional 9,354,484 shares last quarter. 57.72% of the shares are held by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts set new price targets
A number of equity research analysts have weighed in on the company recently. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a price target of $200.00 on Apple in a research report on Monday. Bank of America downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered its price target for the company from $185.00 to $160.00 in a Thursday, September 29 research report. Monness Crespi & Hardt provided coverage for Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 8. They have set a “buy” rating and a price target of $174.00 on the stock. Fundamental Research set a price target of $177.07 on Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a Thursday, August 4, research report. Finally, Itaú Unibanco threw some coverage on Apple in a research note on Tuesday, July 26. They issued an “underperforming” rating and a price target of $136.00 for the company. Two analysts have assigned the stock a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned the stock a high buy rating. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.13.
About Apple
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Apple Inc designs, manufactures and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories worldwide. It also sells various related services. Additionally, the company offers iPhone, a range of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a range of versatile tablets; AirPods Max, an over-ear wireless headset; and wearables, home and accessories including AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, HomePod and iPod touch.
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