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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st, RTT News reports. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%.

Apple has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Apple has a dividend payout ratio of 13.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 AAPL stock opened at $225.91 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.69. The stock has a market cap of $3.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Apple will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 in the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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. Maxim Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $203.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.91.

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.