Katherine L. Adams Sells 61,019 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at $42,309,126.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Apple Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Apple stock opened at $226.80 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $222.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $203.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $1,713,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,511 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,986,000 after buying an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,406,000. Barden Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 132.8% during the 4th quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,636 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after acquiring an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $4,782,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Loop Capital upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Cfra upped their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.76.

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.