Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Guardian Investment Management’s Largest Position

Guardian Investment Management lifted its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,729 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 6,647 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 18.4% of Guardian Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.68.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $239.59 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $240.79. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $220.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The company has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock worth $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is owned by 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.