At present, there are a multitude of metrics for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) readers to pay attention to, but it’s absolutely crucial to be aware of a stock’s short interest. Two metrics we can use are: (a) the percentage of a stock’s shares that short sellers are currently shorting, plus (b) the difference in short interest.
Heightened bearish shorting typically indicates what it implies: the market’s big players have become less optimistic about a company. Short selling that’s too high, though, may have a positive effect on share price, as the shorts may be forced to cover their positions.
Within Insider Monkey, it’s not a secret that we watch hedge funds’ sentiment, but it’s also crucial to combine this data with overall short data. In some high-profile cases, large investors could share that they’re short on a particular company, but it isn’t an SEC requirement. Nonetheless, some individual investors may want to stay away from heavily shorted equities with high hedge fund interest, while others may prefer short-squeeze candidates. For those searching for a time-tested piggybacking strategy, discover the details of our premium strategy.
Let us take a gander at the recent info swirling around Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Studying the most recent FINRA short interest data, which is released two times every month, we can realize that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) sports a short interest of 2.80% of float, down from the previous month. With a total float of 938.30M shares, this reveals a short ratio of 1.40.
It is also crucial to keep an eye on hedge fund holdings from their 13F filings. When analyzing the funds we track, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group had the biggest call position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), worth close to $2.7662 billion, accounting for 4.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On Citadel Investment Group’s heels is Greenlight Capital, managed by David Einhorn, which held a $1.0614 billion position; the fund has 16.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that are bullish include D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.
Also, insider buying is at its handiest when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at activity in other stocks similar to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). These stocks are Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL). This group of stocks are in the personal computers industry and their market caps are similar to AAPL’s market cap.
