Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Position Lowered by Guardian Financial Partners LLC

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 24th, 2023

Guardian Financial Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 1.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,568 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 194 shares during the period. Apple makes up 7.1% of Guardian Financial Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Guardian Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its position in Apple by 8.3% during the first quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 785,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $129,447,000 after purchasing an additional 60,000 shares during the period. Starfox Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Apple by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Starfox Financial Services LLC now owns 1,900 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Arista Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Apple by 1.0% during the first quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,680 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,399,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Apple by 2.3% during the first quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,919,534 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $646,332,000 after acquiring an additional 89,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New England Research & Management Inc. increased its position in Apple by 3.3% during the second quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 29,606 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,743,000 after acquiring an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 15,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.56, for a total value of $2,753,216.64. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,363,619.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Apple from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $208.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.41.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Apple

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $174.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $124.17 and a 1 year high of $198.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.19. The company has a market cap of $2.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.38, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.27.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The iPhone maker reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.07. Apple had a return on equity of 164.92% and a net margin of 24.68%. The business had revenue of $81.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 14th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 11th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Apple Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.