Late last week, Apple (AAPL) executives disclosed that they sold shares. Should shareholders sell the stock as well?
CEO Tim Cook sold 223,986 shares, raising around $50.28 million. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams sold 59,730 shares valued at $13.5 million. Katherine Adams, who is the company’s general counsel and senior vice president of Legal and Global Security, sold 61,019 worth $13.8 million.
All of the mentioned sales are under the Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
As a percentage of net worth, CEO Cook’s sales are small. His net worth in AAPL stock is around $2 billion. Additionally, CEO Elon Musk sold Tesla (TSLA) shares. The CEO of Microsoft (MSFT), Satya Nadella, and co-founder Jeff Bezos sold Amazon (AMZN) stock. Those sales had no impact on the share price.
Investors should treat insider sales as noise. Focus instead on the valuation of the firm and compare it to the company’s prospects. Apple launched the iPhone 16, introducing a few new camera features along with Apple Intelligence. However, the AI functions are not yet available. That may deter Apple fans from upgrading the device.
Your Takeaway
The executive stock sales are done annually. Long-time Apple investors need not sell the stock. However, investors who bought the stock recently will need to watch out for general market correction risks. That would hurt AAPL stock.