Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Short Interest Down 13.9% in January

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 135,190,000 shares, a drop of 13.9% from the December 31st total of 157,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 48,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $236.00 on Friday. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average is $241.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Moffett Nathanson reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $188.00 price target (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer downgraded Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $262.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $273.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter valued at about $288,000. Granite Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Apple by 1.8% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 6,994,703 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,473,224,000 after purchasing an additional 126,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in Apple by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,824 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,269,000 after acquiring an additional 2,565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

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.