Insider Selling: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Sells 108,136 Shares of Stock

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $733,637,976.75. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded down $20.70 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $203.19. 103,138,666 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 54,995,089. The company has a market cap of $3.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.08 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $230.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.36. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price target on Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.26.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 1.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth about $288,000. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,269,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners lifted its position in shares of Apple by 12.8% in the third quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 253,743 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $59,122,000 after buying an additional 28,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 96,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $22,505,000 after buying an additional 3,935 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.