Traders Purchase Large Volume of Apple Call Options (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 1,279,098 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 26% compared to the average daily volume of 1,018,849 call options.

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $270.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.03, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $277.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $248.34 and a 200 day moving average of $222.01.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apple

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Apple by 98,917.0% in the 2nd quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,106,000 after buying an additional 57,898,088 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Apple by 20,464.8% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,553,753,000 after acquiring an additional 26,937,401 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $300.00 price target on Apple in a report on Friday. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Melius Research set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.39.

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.