Apple CEO Tim Cook has sold the iPhone maker’s stock for the first time this year.

Cook sold 265,160 Apple shares (ticker: AAPL) on Aug. 26 for a total of $54.7 million, an average price of $206.17 per share. He sold stock after acquiring 560,000 Apple shares on Aug. 24 through restricted stock units that vested. Apple withheld 294,840 shares to satisfy tax-withholding requirements for the vesting of the restricted stock units.

He sold Apple stock through a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, which company insiders use to remove the appearance of bias from the potential knowledge of material nonpublic information. A company executive or director presets conditions of a trading plan, including price and timing, and trades are executed automatically when the parameters are met.

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Cook continues to own 854,849 Apple shares through a trust, according to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He now owns unvested restricted stock units representing 1.82 million Apple shares.

Cook’s last sale of Apple stock was a year ago, on Aug. 27, 2018, when he sold 265,160 shares for $57.7 million, an average price of $217.79 each. That transaction was also through a plan and after receiving Apple stock through the vesting of restricted stock units.

Apple didn’t respond to a request to make Cook available for comment on his latest stock sale.

Apple stock has surged 30.3% year to date, including a 3.8% gain this quarter.

“No American company is more inextricably tied to China than Apple,” Barron’s wrote last week. And therefore, no American company is so subject to the evolving trade war with China. Earlier this week, we noted that a JPMorgan analyst thinks that Apple could “navigate the challenging dynamic better than investors currently expect.”

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com