Timothy D. Cook Sells 108,136 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $188.38 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $229.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $233.07. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.08 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after acquiring an additional 55,935,105 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup increased their target price on Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $245.26.

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.