Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 1.1%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share price fell 1.1% on Friday . The company traded as low as $170.51 and last traded at $171.48. 65,672,690 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 75,208,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.31.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Apple from $160.00 to $158.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.53.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $181.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $182.66. The company has a market capitalization of $2.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.71, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Apple’s payout ratio is 14.95%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 578,897,858 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $112,288,818,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,084 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 116,483.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,002,245,000 after acquiring an additional 569,066,184 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Apple by 2.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 291,538,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $56,396,763,000 after acquiring an additional 6,367,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Apple by 3.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 234,017,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $38,589,468,000 after acquiring an additional 7,736,013 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% 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.