Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 135,040,000 shares, a growth of 11.1% from the August 15th total of 121,600,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 63,000,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after acquiring an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,531,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $190.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Melius Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.17.

Apple Trading Down 2.8 %

Apple stock opened at $216.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $222.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $199.00. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. Apple’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

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.