Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 0% – What’s Next?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock price fell 0% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $236.34 and last traded at $238.03. 15,270,535 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 53,722,678 shares. The stock had previously closed at $238.03.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Apple to $236.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. KeyCorp restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America increased their target price on Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.88.

Apple Trading Down 0.9 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $239.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.54 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Drystone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 252.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.