Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 159,353 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) by 97.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,966 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 159,353 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $515,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cassia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,009 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 979 shares during the period. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $3,148,000. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. lifted its holdings in Apple by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 2,340,129 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $304,053,000 after purchasing an additional 115,929 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter valued at $563,000. Finally, Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Apple by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 105,200 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,072,000 after acquiring an additional 4,402 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, February 6th. National Bank Financial lowered their price target on Apple to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 20th. Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Atlantic Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.29.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $172.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $163.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.10. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $124.17 and a twelve month high of $176.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.21, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The iPhone maker reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $94.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.84 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.49% and a return on equity of 165.72%. The company’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.30%.

Apple declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 4th that allows the company to buyback $90.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,483.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,483.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $7,215,515.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,569,202.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 439,529 shares of company stock worth $71,703,657 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Company Profile

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Apple, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America.