Guardian Asset Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Guardian Asset Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,879 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 13.2% of Guardian Asset Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Guardian Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $20,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,332 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,337,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 189,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,045,000 after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 3,368.2% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 451,489 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $113,062,000 after purchasing an additional 438,471 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Apple to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.60.

Apple Stock Up 1.1%

AAPL opened at $229.65 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $207.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $213.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to buy up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

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.