Analysts at KeyBanc downgraded Apple shares from ‘Overweight’ to ‘sector-weight’ citing a weaker sales growth outlook.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) top executives led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook, senior vice presidents Deirdre O’Brien and Katherine Adams offloaded part of their shareholdings according to filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Notably, Apple CEO Cook sold about 511,000 shares worth approximately $87.8 million. However, after tax deductions Cook received a total of about $41.5 million. As a result, Cook now owns about 3.28 million shares in the California-based company. On the other hand, Katherine and O’Brien sold about 11.3 million shares.
The Apple share sell spree coincides with a general drop in the value of tech stocks. Furthermore, Apple shares have declined about 12 percent since hitting ATH in July to trade around $173.66 on Thursday. Nonetheless, Apple shares have added approximately 34 percent YTD fueled by the latest product launch including the Vision Pro headset and the new iPhone 15.
Nonetheless, the company’s products remained at lower prices in a bid to compete with other smartphone manufacturers like Huawei and Samsung. Additionally, there has been a general smartphone slump in shipments this year compared to last year. According to a report compiled by research firm Canalys, North American smartphone shipments are expected to drop by about 12 percent in 2023.
As a result, analysts at KeyBanc downgraded Apple shares from ‘Overweight’ to ‘sector-weight’ citing a weaker sales growth outlook.
Apple Market Outlook
The last time Apple CEO Cook sold major stock holdings was back in August 2021, when he offloaded shares worth more than $750 million – but received about $355 million after-tax deductions – after completing a decade as the top executive. Earlier this year, Cook took a pay cut of about 40 percent to receive $49 million per annum. However, Cook saw his stock compensation increase from 50 percent to about 75 percent.
The $2.7 trillion valued company reported a sales decline of about 1.4 percent for the fiscal quarter that ended on July 01. Notably, the company reported a revenue of about $81.8 billion with its earnings per share (EPS) having grown by about 5 percent to $1.26.
In the near future, Apple anticipates an increase in smartphone shipments after adding USB-C charger support for its latest products to comply with the European market. Moreover, other smartphone companies have been releasing their devices with support of the USB-C charger type and sold seamlessly across more jurisdictions.
Meanwhile, the company is optimistic about better fourth fiscal quarter results bolstered by over 1 billion in paid subscriptions to its services.
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