According to SEC documents, Apple Inc. (AAPL) CEO Cook sold a total of 196,410 shares of Apple stock on April 1 and 2, cashing in $33.3 million (about 240 million yuan).
Although the "Big Seven" U.S. tech companies contributed nearly 40% of the S&P 500's first-quarter gains, Apple's performance has clearly fallen behind, with the company falling nearly 11% in the first quarter.
Specifically, on April 1, Cook sold 99,183 shares of Apple stock at a price of $170.03 per share. The next day, he made two more sales: the first sold 97,062 shares at an average price of $168.62; the second was smaller, selling only 165 shares at an average price of $169.30.
After the sell-off, Cook's direct holdings of Apple shares were reduced to 3,280,180 shares. Based on Apple's closing price on April 4, the market value of Cook's Apple shares was approximately US$550 million (approximately RMB 3.98 billion).
The transactions were made pursuant to a prearranged trading plan launched by Cook on November 28, 2022, known as the 10b5-1 trading plan. The program allows company insiders to sell a predetermined number of shares at designated times to avoid insider trading charges.
Last October, Cook and other Apple executives sold more than $100 million (about 723 million yuan) worth of stock. Cook himself sold 511,000 shares, worth about $87.8 million (about 635 million yuan), with after-tax profits of $41.5 million (about 300 million yuan).
Investors often closely monitor insider trading because it can give them insight into executives’ views on a company’s future. However, trades under a 10b5-1 trading plan are often scheduled in advance and may not always reflect the discretionary trading behavior of company insiders.
Apple's stock performance and management decisions are continually watched by shareholders and potential investors, and insider trading is just one of many factors that influence their investment decisions.
Cook's latest sell-off comes at a critical moment for Apple. The company has encountered antitrust penalties from European Union and U.S. regulators in the past month. At the same time, many investors have questioned Apple's insufficient response to the AI revolution.
Due to the abuse of App Store rules, Apple was fined 1.84 billion euros by the European Union, equivalent to about 14 billion yuan, and the U.S. Department of Justice, together with 15 states and the District of Columbia, launched a massive antitrust lawsuit against it.
In addition, Apple seems to have encountered a sales "bottleneck". According to UBS, iPhone global sales in February totaled 17.4 million units, down 4% from 18.1 million units in February 2023, with most of the decline concentrated in the United States, India and China.
Market concerns about Apple's future development prospects are growing. UBS analyst David Vogt and others said: "Given the weakness of the iPhone in the US and Chinese markets, global iPhone sales are unlikely to grow without significant growth in the Indian market." On April 1, UBS gave Apple "neutral" ” rating, with a price target of $190. Deutsche Bank also downgraded Apple to hold a few days ago with a target price of $180.
Article forwarded from: Golden Ten Data