Technology bigwig Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) Senior Vice President and CFO Luca Maestri sold shares worth $16.9 million on August 17, as per a regulatory filing.
Per the Form 4 filing, the shares were sold in two parts. One lot of 66,390 shares was sold at a weighted average sales price of $174.66 per piece. The other lot, which contained 30,345 shares, was sold at a slightly higher weighted average sales price of $175.6 per piece. The total sales aggregated $16,924,259. Notably, Maestri still has 110,673 shares of Apple stock following the latest sale.
TipRanks’ Insider Trading Activity Tool also provides a comprehensive list of daily insider transactions and shows which top corporate insiders are buying or selling shares of a publicly listed company. Interestingly, TipRanks also includes a list of hot stocks that boast either a Very Positive or Positive insider confidence signal.
Apple Issues Security Alerts
In another development, Apple has warned consumers to immediately update their iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices to guard against hacks. A new security breach allows hackers to take control of Apple hardware and run their own code. In response, Apple has released new software patches to protect against the breach.
Is Apple a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
On TipRanks, AAPL stock commands a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 23 Buys, four Holds, and one Sell. The average Apple price forecast of $183.07 implies 6.7% upside potential to current levels. Meanwhile, the stock has lost 5.4% so far this year.
Similarly, hedge funds are bullish on the AAPL stock. TipRanks’ Hedge Fund Trading Activity tool shows that confidence in Apple is currently Positive, as 102 hedge funds increased their cumulative holdings of AAPL stock by 11.4 million shares in the last quarter.
Ending Thoughts
Even though the CFO has sold a part of his AAPL stock holdings, he still has more shares in his closet. Moreover, both Wall Street analysts and hedge funds are highly optimistic about Apple’s stock trajectory. Despite the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, Apple reported strong Q3 results that beat analyst expectations. This proves the technology giant’s command of the market and resilience to headwinds, supporting a good investment case.
