Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Insider Chris Kondo Sells 4,999 Shares

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) insider Chris Kondo sold 4,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.40, for a total value of $951,809.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,574,531.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Apple Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ AAPL traded up $0.03 on Friday, hitting $189.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 41,261,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 61,729,238. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.54, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $199.62. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $173.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 earnings per share. Apple's revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Itau BBA Securities raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $196.00 price target (up from $189.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Apple from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $195.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.11.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the third quarter. Conservest Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,877,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Flagstone Financial Management grew its position in Apple by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 6,092 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,173,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. High Pines Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. High Pines Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,506 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $1,638,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Corporation boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Asset Planning Corporation now owns 6,135 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% 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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