Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Gap Up Following Dividend Announcement

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock had previously closed at $155.00, but opened at $157.14. Apple shares last traded at $155.82, with a volume of 15,525,379 shares trading hands.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 10th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.64%.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AAPL shares. UBS AG restated a “buy” rating and issued a $151.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, April 24th. Barclays PLC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $146.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday. FBN Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price (up from $160.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. KeyCorp restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Apple has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $167.33.

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $150.76 and a 200-day moving average of $145.17. The company has a market cap of $834.70 billion, a PE ratio of 18.35 and a beta of 1.31.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $45.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.94 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 35.40% and a net margin of 20.87%. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post $9.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 2nd that allows the company to buyback $50.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

In other Apple news, SVP D Bruce Sewell sold 31,625 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.13, for a total value of $5,000,861.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,778,555.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.58, for a total value of $5,515,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,168,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $184,098,035.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 287,962 shares of company stock worth $44,702,313 over the last quarter. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vantage Financial Partners Ltd. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at $400,000. Blue Sky Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $108,000. FNY Managed Accounts LLC boosted its position in Apple by 852.4% in the second quarter. FNY Managed Accounts LLC now owns 800 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Hefty Wealth Partners boosted its position in Apple by 27.6% in the second quarter. Hefty Wealth Partners now owns 804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Beacon Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at approximately $117,000. 61.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Apple

Apple Inc (Apple) designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The Company’s products and services include iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, and a variety of accessory, service and support offerings.