Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 117,650,000 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the May 15th total of 109,880,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 59,610,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.
Apple Trading Down 0.6 %
Shares of AAPL stock opened at $184.92 on Friday. Apple has a 1 year low of $124.17 and a 1 year high of $186.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $172.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $155.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.40, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.29.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.08. Apple had a net margin of 24.49% and a return on equity of 165.72%. The firm had revenue of $94.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.
Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 4th that allows the company to buyback $90.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
Apple Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 12th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.30%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Apple from $185.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Friday, June 2nd. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Apple from $195.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $185.00 to $210.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 6th. 51job restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, June 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $174.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.40.
Insider Activity at Apple
In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,092 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $708,979.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,881,483.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 77,817 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.11, for a total transaction of $12,926,181.87. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,363,335.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $708,979.92. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,946 shares in the company, valued at $5,881,483.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 439,529 shares of company stock valued at $71,703,657 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple
A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 116,483.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,002,245,000 after buying an additional 569,066,184 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $21,746,940,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,110,586,000 after buying an additional 25,926,552 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc now owns 915,560,382 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $150,975,907,000 after buying an additional 20,424,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 16,638.6% during the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 15,593,974 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $94,566,000 after buying an additional 15,500,812 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.60% of the company’s stock.
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.