Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Insider Chris Kondo Sells 4,486 Shares

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Apple Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $212.33. 49,235,970 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,017,568. The firm has a market cap of $3.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $207.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. The business's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Apple's payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Bensler LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 132,548 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $30,884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,768 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.5% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 173,990 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $40,540,000 after acquiring an additional 2,495 shares during the period. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. now owns 33,386 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $7,779,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 197.8% in the 3rd quarter. Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC now owns 21,018 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $4,897,000 after acquiring an additional 13,960 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP boosted its stake in Apple by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 66,025 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $15,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,636 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $241.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush cut shares of Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Argus raised shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $235.80.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.