Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Announces Dividend Increase - $0.26 Per Share

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 1st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of 0.26 per share by the iPhone maker on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a 4.0% increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25.

Apple has increased its dividend by an average of 4.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Apple has a dividend payout ratio of 12.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Apple to earn $8.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.2%.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $0.82 on Thursday, reaching $213.32. 53,901,826 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,556,436. The firm has a market cap of $3.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $213.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.95. Apple has a 52 week low of $169.11 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 160.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total value of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $733,637,976.75. This trade represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total value of $941,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $941,214. The trade was a 50.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 187,021 shares of company stock valued at $41,760,140. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 24,931.3% in the 4th quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 10,368,233 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,596,413,000 after purchasing an additional 10,326,812 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in Apple by 1,949.3% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 10,051,304 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,430,756,000 after buying an additional 9,560,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,267,797,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Apple from $275.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Moffett Nathanson restated a "sell" rating and issued a $188.00 price objective (down from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $202.33 to $167.88 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $232.63.

About Apple

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.