Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 0.7%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares dropped 0.7% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $194.83 and last traded at $195.49. Approximately 19,048,341 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 59,711,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.89.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. DA Davidson upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $230.00 in a report on Tuesday. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Apple from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $207.47.

Apple Trading Up 7.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $181.13 and its 200 day moving average is $183.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total transaction of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 14,395.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,119,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its position in Apple by 23,076.4% during the first quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.