Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Trading Down 1.2% - Here's Why

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) fell 1.2% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $207.54 and last traded at $208.52. 13,969,822 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 57,262,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $211.16.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Apple to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group set a $210.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.27.

Apple Trading Down 1.0%

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.59, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $203.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $216.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $95.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $84,999,145,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,868,648,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.

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.