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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) saw a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 153,410,000 shares, a growth of 35.1% from the May 31st total of 113,520,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 67,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $196.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.71.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,068,376.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 346,270 shares of company stock valued at $60,880,196. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,912,466,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 14,395.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 70,700,395 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $136,119,470,000 after buying an additional 70,212,651 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $3,026,492,000. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC increased its position in Apple by 23,076.4% during the 1st quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 9,240,214 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,584,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200,345 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 1.6 %

Apple stock opened at $210.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.25. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $220.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.02. Apple had a net margin of 26.31% and a return on equity of 148.33%. The business had revenue of $90.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. Apple’s payout ratio 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.