Insider Selling: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) COO Sells $10,188,879.64 in Stock

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.22, for a total transaction of $10,188,879.64. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,378,155.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $168.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.59 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $175.57 and a 200-day moving average of $182.21. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.80 and a 52 week high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.99 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Wyrmwood Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 69.0% in the fourth quarter. Wyrmwood Management LLC now owns 169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Gilfoyle & Co LLC increased its position in Apple by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilfoyle & Co LLC now owns 218 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Apple by 16,252.3% in the first quarter. Summit Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,992,420 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 6,949,659 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.34.

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.