Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 1.5% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Apple shares fell 1.5% intraday to $274.11 (low $272.84) on Monday, with ~49.7M shares traded—about 9% below average—and a prior close of $278.28.
• Analysts are broadly positive with a MarketBeat consensus of Moderate Buy and a $282.51 average target, though individual targets span roughly $225 to $345 and ratings include 2 Strong Buy, 23 Buy, 11 Hold and 1 Sell.
• Apple posted an earnings beat last quarter ($1.85 EPS vs. $1.74 expected; $102.47B revenue, +8.7% YoY), pays a $0.26 quarterly dividend (0.4% yield), and insiders have sold about 228,052 shares in the past 90 days, including notable sales by CEO Tim Cook.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 1.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $272.84 and last traded at $274.11. 49,682,691 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 54,731,160 shares. The stock had previously closed at $278.28.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AAPL. Melius increased their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Apple from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, November 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Apple from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Argus set a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $282.51.

Apple Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $268.24 and a 200-day moving average of $237.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $4.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is 13.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Apple

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 110.9% in the third quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC lifted its stake in Apple by 333.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 260 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Company Profile

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.

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