Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Short Interest Down 5.6% in October

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) saw a significant drop in short interest in 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 trading volume of 47,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.51.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 over the last 90 days. 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 made changes to their positions in AAPL. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 333,857,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $77,542,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,483,787 shares during the period. Goodman Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 220,439 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $51,361,000 after acquiring an additional 13,907 shares during the last quarter. Valued Retirements Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,538,000. Finally, Brophy Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the third quarter worth $9,726,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $225.00 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. Apple has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $227.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.61. The company has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.