Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Announces $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the iPhone maker on Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%.

Apple has increased its dividend by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Apple has a dividend payout ratio of 13.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Apple to earn $7.54 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 13.3%.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL traded down $4.19 during trading on Thursday, reaching $225.91. 63,372,520 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 59,357,734. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Maxim Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $203.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $261.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.91.

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.