Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Increases Dividend to $0.25 Per Share

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the iPhone maker on Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. This is a boost from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

Apple has raised its dividend by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Apple has a dividend payout ratio of 13.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Apple to earn $7.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.5%.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock traded up $3.73 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $173.03. The stock had a trading volume of 92,324,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 60,772,266. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $172.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.63. The company has a market capitalization of $2.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $199.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The iPhone maker reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.09. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. The business had revenue of $119.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Apple from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Redburn Partners downgraded Apple to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $208.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 54,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.91, for a total value of $9,244,782.12. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,572 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,068,376.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 53,194 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.12, for a total value of $9,262,139.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,046.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,271 shares of company stock valued at $63,653,887 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.