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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the iPhone maker on Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 11th.

Apple has raised 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 payout ratio of 13.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Apple to earn $7.48 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 13.4%.

Apple Stock Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $222.91 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $227.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.03. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Maxim Group increased their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Cfra increased their price target on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $236.23.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. 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 is available through this link. In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by 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.