Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 358 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,724 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 0.5% of Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 20,372.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,347,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $219,829,700,000 after acquiring an additional 93,886,664 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 14,145.8% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,558,826 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 22,870.6% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 5,590,588 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,302,607,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,250 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $834,368,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Apple by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 27,882,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,496,738,000 after purchasing an additional 3,416,922 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 target price (down previously from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $238.05.

Apple Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.68. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple 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.