Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Short Interest Update

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 141,040,000 shares, an increase of 6.0% from the October 31st total of 133,040,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 48,780,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.0% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 37,654 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,773,000 after buying an additional 2,126 shares in the last quarter. American Trust lifted its position in Apple by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Trust now owns 77,292 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $18,009,000 after acquiring an additional 5,118 shares in the last quarter. Castellan Group lifted its position in Apple by 206.9% in the 3rd quarter. Castellan Group now owns 5,782 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,347,000 after acquiring an additional 3,898 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,290,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in Apple by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 1,091,062 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $254,217,000 after purchasing an additional 250,514 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AAPL. Loop Capital cut their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $239.59 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $229.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $220.02. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $240.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.