Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Sells Off Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) recently sold shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). In a filing disclosed on January 08th, the Senator disclosed that they had sold between $15,001 and $50,000 in Apple stock on December 19th.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse also recently made the following trade(s):

• Sold $15,001 – $50,000 in shares of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) on 1/6/2025.
• Sold $15,001 – $50,000 in shares of Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) on 12/19/2024.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of MetLife (NYSE:MET) on 11/19/2024.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) on 11/18/2024.
• Purchased $15,001 – $50,000 in shares of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) on 10/30/2024.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) on 10/29/2024.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) on 10/29/2024.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Honeywell International (NASDAQ:HON) on 10/29/2024.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) on 10/29/2024.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) on 10/29/2024.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $242.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company’s 50 day moving average is $239.57 and its 200-day moving average is $229.66. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Apple by 10.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 584,010,284 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $136,074,372,000 after buying an additional 55,935,105 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Apple by 5.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 363,859,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $84,779,231,000 after purchasing an additional 18,224,005 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Apple by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 94,942,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $22,121,656,000 after buying an additional 5,893,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 93,886,664 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued 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 $237.64.

About Senator Whitehouse

Sheldon Whitehouse (Democratic Party) is a member of the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island. He assumed office on January 3, 2007. His current term ends on January 3, 2025. Whitehouse (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the U.S. Senate to represent Rhode Island. He declared candidacy for the 2024 election. Whitehouse previously served as the Rhode Island attorney general from 1999 to 2003. Before that, he was a United States attorney from 1994 to 1998. He was nominated to the position by President Bill Clinton (D). Whitehouse was a superdelegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention from Rhode Island. He cast his vote for Hillary Clinton. As of a 2014 analysis of multiple outside rankings, Whitehouse is an average Democratic member of Congress, meaning he will vote with the Democratic Party on the majority of bills.

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.