Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 2.7% – Here’s Why

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price was down 2.7% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $220.01 and last traded at $221.41. Approximately 21,535,830 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 53,186,134 shares. The stock had previously closed at $227.48.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $253.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.22.

Apple Stock Down 3.4 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $235.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $234.00. 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 $3.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued 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 dividend yield of 0.48%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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.