Short Interest in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Rises By 8.6%

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 141,740,000 shares, a growth of 8.6% from the September 15th total of 130,540,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 53,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth about $140,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Up 1.1 %

AAPL traded up $2.55 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $233.85. The company had a trading volume of 64,708,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 60,469,078. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $224.06 and a 200-day moving average of $206.60. The company has a market cap of $3.59 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple's payout ratio is 15.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a "buy" rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. Cfra boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $247.61 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $239.27.

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.