Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Short Interest Up 8.6% in September

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 141,740,000 shares, an increase of 8.6% from the September 15th total of 130,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 53,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cfra raised their price target on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.27.

Apple Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $231.78 on Thursday. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $225.03 and a 200 day moving average of $207.22. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 187,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399 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. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,713,000. Golden Road Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $1,575,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 387.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares in the last quarter. WT Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $80,057,000. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the first quarter valued at $11,776,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently 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.