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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the iPhone maker on Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th.

Apple has increased its dividend by an average of 4.6% 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 12.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Apple to earn $8.31 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 12.0%.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $227.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.13, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $241.26 and a 200-day moving average of $231.00. Apple has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Apple will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, January 31st. Maxim Group raised their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.52.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.