Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 0.2% - Time to Sell?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 0.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $197.02 and last traded at $198.52. 19,193,548 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 56,102,092 shares. The stock had previously closed at $198.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp raised shares of Apple from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Redburn Partners set a $230.00 target price on Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $235.80.

Apple Stock Up 0.2 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $208.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $227.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.40, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 35,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.01, for a total value of $7,950,786.93. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,377,116.59. This trade represents a 8.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 38,822 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.67, for a total value of $8,683,316.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,072,269.86. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock worth $41,760,140 in the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Apple by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 5.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% 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.