Insider Selling: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Sells 129,963 Shares of Stock

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Timothy Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $258.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.15, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $233.09 and its 200 day moving average is $214.69.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Apple by 0.6% during the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 209.2% in the first quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 4,591 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 target price on Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.49.

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.