LifeGuide Financial Advisors LLC Has $1.75 Million Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

LifeGuide Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,070 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Apple makes up 0.9% of LifeGuide Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. LifeGuide Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 116,483.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 569,554,722 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $74,002,245,000 after buying an additional 569,066,184 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at $21,746,940,000. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Apple by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 208,655,323 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $27,110,586,000 after purchasing an additional 25,926,552 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Apple by 60.0% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,932,352 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,103,464,000 after purchasing an additional 17,604,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 154.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 23,295,770 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,729,270,000 after purchasing an additional 14,157,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AAPL. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.34.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.94, for a total value of $18,094,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total transaction of $9,262,139.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 366,271 shares of company stock worth $63,653,887 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $167.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.02, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $175.15 and its 200 day moving average is $182.10. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.80 and a 12 month high of $199.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $119.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.99 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.16% and a return on equity of 156.04%. Apple’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.95%.

Apple Company 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.