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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 133,040,000 shares, a decline of 5.6% from the October 15th total of 140,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 47,540,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Granite Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple by 5.2% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,928,110 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $406,099,000 after buying an additional 95,235 shares during the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 387.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after buying an additional 19,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gentry Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $876,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $228.28 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $227.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $217.31. Apple has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. 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 posted 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. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.25.

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.