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

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 0.42%.

Apple has increased its dividend payment 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 12.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Apple to earn $8.38 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 11.9%.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock traded down $1.74 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $237.62. 49,755,832 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 57,284,332. Apple has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The stock's fifty day moving average is $241.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.81. The company has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Moffett Nathanson reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $188.00 target price (down previously from $202.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $238.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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