This all time high has little or nothing to do with the dividend, unless it could have been money managers or traders buying the stock ahead of the record date. And even then, outside of quarterly window dressing (and we're a bit early for that), there would be no reason to buy this particular stock with its relatively low yield. The coming iPhone, rumors of an iPad Mini and anything that's giving air to rumors about the Apple TV set seem to be driving this run-up. At least that's what the smart boys & girls at CNBC and Bloomberg seem to think.
My own (baseless) rumor to explain this jump is that Apple is going to hire Marissa Mayer, once she gets bounced from Yahoo. Her very presence seems to be good for a 5% spike. Then she finally speaks... and that means a 10% drop. :-(
