Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 0.8% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded down 0.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $265.00 to $260.00. The stock traded as low as $238.09 and last traded at $237.42. 10,431,853 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 55,421,129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $239.36.

AAPL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer cut Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James raised their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $211.84 to $200.75 in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.05.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $14,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the second quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $288,000. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.8% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,473,224,000 after acquiring an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in Apple by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.5 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $241.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.81. The company has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.