Apple Inc. (AAPL) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 10th

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

Apple has raised its dividend payment 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% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Apple has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $199.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.56, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $172.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.57.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $90.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.37 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 156.04% and a net margin of 26.16%. Apple’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Apple will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total transaction of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,434,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $802,392,181.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 99,183 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.03, for a total value of $16,864,085.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,377,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $574,260,512.21. 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 ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Bank of America raised their target price on Apple from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Apple from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $188.00 in a report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $158.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.00.

Apple declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $110.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.