Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CFO Luca Maestri Sells 53,194 Shares

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Apple Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $168.00 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.21. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.80 and a fifty-two week high of $199.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given 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 0.57%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 31.3% in the 1st quarter. Strata Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,835 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,887,000 after purchasing an additional 4,018 shares during the period. Deltec Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 25,004 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,288,000 after purchasing an additional 3,875 shares during the period. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 47,694 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,179,000 after purchasing an additional 6,796 shares during the period. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Dumont & Blake Investment Advisors LLC now owns 71,622 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,282,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the period. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 13,223 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,813 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Apple from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Maxim Group assumed coverage on Apple in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.34.

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.