Short Interest in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Declines By 5.6%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 133,040,000 shares, a drop of 5.6% from the October 15th total of 140,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 47,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Two research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $225.00 on Monday. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $227.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $216.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total transaction of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares in the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Apple by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 46,096 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,740,000 after buying an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 6.7% during the third quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 220,439 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $51,361,000 after buying an additional 13,907 shares during the last quarter. Valued Retirements Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $3,538,000. Finally, Brophy Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the third quarter worth $9,726,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.