Apple to distribute another $2.867 billion to shareholders via dividend

Posted:
in AAPL Investors edited January 2014
Apple is paying its shareholders a slightly larger quarterly dividend on Thursday, distributing over $2.867 billion in $3.05 per share payments across the company's 940 million outstanding shares.


Source: Apple


Shareholders "of record" on Monday May 13 will be paid today, although any shares changing hands must settle first, making the last day to have bought a share to qualify for the current dividend May 8.

Flush with billions in cash it simply can't spend fast enough, Apple first announced plans for a dividend program a year ago last March, alongside a $10 billion share buyback program. It was the first time the company had paid a dividend in 17 years. Each quarter, the company initially stated it will pay its shareholders a $2.65 per share dividend.

In its last earnings conference call, the company's chief executive Tim Cook announced that, after paying out more than $10 billion over the past year in dividends, the company would launch "an aggressive plan that more than doubles the size of the [existing] capital return program" beginning this quarter.

Cook said "the vast majority of our incremental cash return will be in the form of share repurchases," explaining that "as the Board and management team deliberated among the various alternatives to returning cash, we concluded that investing in Apple was the best. In addition to share repurchases, we are increasing our current dividend by 15% to further appeal to investors seeking yield.""Retailer investors are pouring money into tech giant Apple Inc. than ever before"

He added, "while we continue to generate cash in excess of our needs to operate the business, invest in our future and maintain flexibility to take advantage of strategic opportunities, we remain firmly committed to our objective of delivering attractive returns to shareholders through both our business performance and the return of capital."

A new report by the Dividend Daily notes that Apple's dividend program is attracting new retail investors, stating "retailer investors are pouring money into tech giant Apple Inc. than ever before."

The report cited consumer-oriented brokerage firm TD Ameritrade as saying that "more of its clients own Apple shares now than at any other point," making Apple shares the second most widely held stock by its clients after General Electric in share count, and by far the most widely held in terms of dollar value.

Can't spend fast enough to make a dent

Over the next three years, Cook stated that Apple's newly expanded buyback and dividend plans will distribute $100 billion from its cash pile, leveraging debt markets to borrow a very low interest against the company's vast holdings that are mostly held overseas. That allows the company to make use of its stellar credit rating and avoid massive taxes that would be triggered if it were to simply shift cash earned internationally into the U.S.

While this has triggered reports vilifying Apple for "avoiding" taxes, the company is actually "one of the top corporate income tax payers in the country, if not the largest," notes Steve Dowling, Apple's head of public relations.

In 2012, Apple paid $6 billion in federal corporate income taxes, which amounts to 1 out of every 40 dollars in corporate income taxes collected by the U.S. government Dowling told Bloomberg.

In 2012, "Apple paid $6B in federal corporate income taxes: 1/40th of all corporate income taxes collected by the US" bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-0?

? Daniel Eran Dilger (@DanielEran)


Apple continues to earn new cash faster than it is paying out in dividends and stock buybacks; even with its $10 billion in quarterly dividend payments over the past year and $10 billion in buybacks, Apple's cash hoard has grown to more than $144.7 billion by the end of March, the company's second fiscal quarter.

Apple will continue paying the now slightly higher quarterly dividends about a month and a half after the end of each subsequent quarter, and reevaluate its dividend payments on an annual basis.

A dividend equivalent will also be paid to holders of Apple's restricted shares, although Cook declined to collect dividend payments for the 1.125 million shares of restricted stock he has been granted, which would otherwise be worth over $75 million.

The company's current dividend payment rate is quite modest when compared to its current and future cash position. At the same time, Apple's nearly $3 billion in quarterly dividend payments makes it one of the highest dividend payers in the world.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    dickprinterdickprinter Posts: 1,060member
    "A new report by the Dividend Daily notes that Apple's dividend program is attracting new retail investors, stating "retailer investors are pouring money into tech giant Apple Inc. than ever before."

    Too bad that it's the institutional investments that make the stock move...
  • Reply 2 of 35
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    I wish I had Apple's "problem".
  • Reply 3 of 35


    Glad to see Tim Cook focused on bleeding cash to stockholders and operations with no acknowledgment or game plan that the iPhone is no longer a breakout product.  This guy thinks end users will cheer for him because he is putting Apple into debt and paying dividends.  What a Sculley wanna-be.. 

  • Reply 4 of 35
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by ShelShock View Post

    Glad to see Tim Cook focused on bleeding cash to stockholders and operations with no acknowledgment or game plan that the iPhone is no longer a breakout product.  This guy thinks end users will cheer for him because he is putting Apple into debt and paying dividends.  What a Sculley wanna-be.. 


     


    Go away.

  • Reply 5 of 35

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ShelShock View Post


    Glad to see Tim Cook focused on bleeding cash to stockholders and operations with no acknowledgment or game plan that the iPhone is no longer a breakout product.  This guy thinks end users will cheer for him because he is putting Apple into debt and paying dividends.  What a Sculley wanna-be.. 



     


    Glad to see that when Apple gets tired of the ridiculous amounts of cash that Tim Cook is able to generate for the company, they'll be able to tap on your boundless business acumen.

  • Reply 6 of 35
    juiljuil Posts: 75member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dave MacLachlan View Post


     


    Glad to see that when Apple gets tired of the ridiculous amounts of cash that Tim Cook is able to generate for the company, they'll be able to tap on your boundless business acumen.



     


    Not to mention his finance doctorate from a world renowned and prestigious university (received with honours no-less). I mean what does Rupert Murdoch know about business finance anyways? ShelShock will gladly show Apple the way to endless streams of infinite fortunes with his unquestionable business (dare I say omniscient) strategies.

  • Reply 7 of 35
    robogoborobogobo Posts: 378member
    Waste of money if you ask me. I don't understand this pandering to shareholders and market hacks. Apple has enough money without requiring capital investment. Honestly, if I were them, I'd just let Wall Street play its little game and focus on delivering more great products. If the share price goes up, great. If it goes down, super. Buy it all back when it hits $50 and take the company private.

    Dividends are for companies who need investors.
  • Reply 8 of 35
    aaronjaaronj Posts: 1,595member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dave MacLachlan View Post


     


    Glad to see that when Apple gets tired of the ridiculous amounts of cash that Tim Cook is able to generate for the company, they'll be able to tap on your boundless business acumen.



     


    HA!  Thanks for the laugh, I need it today. :)


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by robogobo View Post



    Waste of money if you ask me. I don't understand this pandering to shareholders and market hacks. Apple has enough money without requiring capital investment. Honestly, if I were them, I'd just let Wall Street play its little game and focus on delivering more great products. If the share price goes up, great. If it goes down, super. Buy it all back when it hits $50 and take the company private.



    Dividends are for companies who need investors.


     


    In most cases, you'd be right about dividends.  In this case, though, they felt they needed to do something.  So, they pay a dividend and do a buyback.  It's not as if it actually affects the amount of cash they have in a significant way.  They make it faster than they can spend it anyhow.


     


    In other words, if it makes a few people (on Wall St.) happy, then why not?  It certainly has no effect on the company.

  • Reply 9 of 35
    constable odoconstable odo Posts: 1,041member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by robogobo View Post



    Waste of money if you ask me. I don't understand this pandering to shareholders and market hacks. Apple has enough money without requiring capital investment. Honestly, if I were them, I'd just let Wall Street play its little game and focus on delivering more great products. If the share price goes up, great. If it goes down, super. Buy it all back when it hits $50 and take the company private.



    Dividends are for companies who need investors.


    As a long-term Apple shareholder, I'm very pleased to get the increased dividends if Apple doesn't do what's necessary to hold the share price higher than $450.  Look, I could understand if Apple was actively acquiring companies or building smartphones that no rival company could duplicate, but that isn't happening.  It's Apple shareholders being constantly bombarded with idiots claiming Apple is worth about $240 a share.  Google is easily heading for $1000 and Apple is heading in the other direction.  Wasn't it Apple last year that was supposed to hit $1000.  You're going to tell me that Apple can't use any of the money to sell enough products or put enough value into the company like other companies to keep the share price higher than it is.  It's like Apple isn't even trying to compete in the smartphone industry.  They can't even hold on to what little market share they have.  I'm not talking majority market share, but at least double digits.  You're telling me $100+ billion in the bank can't do that much for Apple.  Simply increasing their advertising budget by a billion or so could do that much.  It's not like Apple is going to miss it.  Like you, I feel Apple should focus on designing GREAT products for consumers, but does anyone even acknowledge that Apple is building better smartphones than Samsung.  There should be some clear-cut difference that the iPhone is a higher-quality product, but even that's questionable in the smartphone industry and Wall Street's opinion.


     


    If Apple isn't going to seriously use that money to kick the crap out of their smartphone rivals, then at least give loyal Apple shareholders something back besides just good products.  Apple should never have let Samsung get even close to them in profits.  Apple should have kept pouring on the juice when the stock was at $700 instead of just giving up and folding like a house of cards.  Apple continues to get upstaged by Google and Android and with Apple's money, it should be able to put a stop to that nonsense.

  • Reply 10 of 35
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post

    …what's necessary…


     


    And what would that be, exactly?






    …if Apple was actively acquiring companies or building smartphones that no rival company could duplicate, but that isn't happening.



     


    The former isn't because it's reckless and the latter is because you're blind.






    Google is easily heading for $1000 and Apple is heading in the other direction.  Wasn't it Apple last year that was supposed to hit $1000.



     


    And for that reason, I cannot wait for Google's delicious collapse.






    You're going to tell me that Apple can't use any of the money to sell enough products or put enough value into the company like other companies to keep the share price higher than it is.



     


    Who's telling you that? It's not about the telling, it's about the believing. Wall Street sees ever-increasing profit and sells. That's their problem.






    It's like Apple isn't even trying to compete in the smartphone industry.  They can't even hold on to what little market share they have. I'm not talking majority market share, but at least double digits.



     


    Keeps going up, though. Marketshare, that is. So enough with that.






    Simply increasing their advertising budget by a billion or so could do that much.



     


    lol, no. Not at all. Advertising? Hilarious.






    …I feel Apple should focus on designing GREAT products for consumers…



     


    And yet you say "waste money on advertising".






    …but does anyone even acknowledge that Apple is building better smartphones than Samsung.



     


    Every review, ever, since 2007.






    There should be some clear-cut difference that the iPhone is a higher-quality product, but even that's questionable in the smartphone industry and Wall Street's opinion.



     


    Screw Wall Street. What do they matter unless they're the ones purchasing the products? How many awards has Apple won for quality? How many charts have they topped? Screw Wall Street. 





    …give loyal Apple shareholders something back besides just good products.



     


    Sounds like they're doing that.






    Apple should never have let Samsung get even close to them in profits.



     


    That's what the lawsuits are for. You're basically saying "Apple should never have let Samsung steal their IP". How, exactly, could they have prevented it?






    Apple should have kept pouring on the juice when the stock was at $700 instead of just giving up and folding like a house of cards.



     


    What "juice"? What anything? 






    Apple continues to get upstaged by Google and Android and with Apple's money, it should be able to put a stop to that nonsense.



     


    Upstaged in what freaking capacity?

  • Reply 11 of 35
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by robogobo View Post



    Waste of money if you ask me. I don't understand this pandering to shareholders and market hacks. Apple has enough money without requiring capital investment. Honestly, if I were them, I'd just let Wall Street play its little game and focus on delivering more great products. If the share price goes up, great. If it goes down, super. Buy it all back when it hits $50 and take the company private.



    Dividends are for companies who need investors.


    As a long-term Apple shareholder, I'm very pleased to get the increased dividends if Apple doesn't do what's necessary to hold the share price higher than $450.  Look, I could understand if Apple was actively acquiring companies or building smartphones that no rival company could duplicate, but that isn't happening.  It's Apple shareholders being constantly bombarded with idiots claiming Apple is worth about $240 a share.  Google is easily heading for $1000 and Apple is heading in the other direction.  Wasn't it Apple last year that was supposed to hit $1000.  You're going to tell me that Apple can't use any of the money to sell enough products or put enough value into the company like other companies to keep the share price higher than it is.  It's like Apple isn't even trying to compete in the smartphone industry.  They can't even hold on to what little market share they have.  I'm not talking majority market share, but at least double digits.  You're telling me $100+ billion in the bank can't do that much for Apple.  Simply increasing their advertising budget by a billion or so could do that much.  It's not like Apple is going to miss it.  Like you, I feel Apple should focus on designing GREAT products for consumers, but does anyone even acknowledge that Apple is building better smartphones than Samsung.  There should be some clear-cut difference that the iPhone is a higher-quality product, but even that's questionable in the smartphone industry and Wall Street's opinion.


     


    If Apple isn't going to seriously use that money to kick the crap out of their smartphone rivals, then at least give loyal Apple shareholders something back besides just good products.  Apple should never have let Samsung get even close to them in profits.  Apple should have kept pouring on the juice when the stock was at $700 instead of just giving up and folding like a house of cards.  Apple continues to get upstaged by Google and Android and with Apple's money, it should be able to put a stop to that nonsense.



    Good, concise points.

  • Reply 12 of 35
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Google is easily heading for $1000 and Apple is heading in the other direction.

    Wall Street's evaluation of Apple is heading in the wrong direction (actually it's fairly accurate just now, Google's is probably overvalued). There's a distinction.

    Calendar Q1 2013, Apple made $9.5b, Google made $3.3b. Complain to Wall Street why they value Google at 3/4 Apple's market cap when they make 1/3 the profit. Google is growing fast in volume but their profits aren't.
    It's like Apple isn't even trying to compete in the smartphone industry.

    Not for volume they aren't. For profit, they are and winning that hands down so far.
    They can't even hold on to what little market share they have.

    You have to remember what the market share numbers mean. Apple's numbers are still increasing so they are still increasing cell phone marketshare but feature phones are converting to Android faster as they have cheaper options so Apple's share of new purchases is lower. Slowed growth, not negative growth.
    I'm not talking majority market share, but at least double digits.

    I'm pretty sure they have a double-digit marketshare. The share between iOS and Android isn't that important, it's Apple vs the next largest manufacturer. Apple is second in the world to Samsung, which only ships 50% more smartphones.
    I feel Apple should focus on designing GREAT products for consumers, but does anyone even acknowledge that Apple is building better smartphones than Samsung.  There should be some clear-cut difference that the iPhone is a higher-quality product, but even that's questionable in the smartphone industry and Wall Street's opinion.

    Wall Street's opinion is worth about as much as the currency they trade in. The quality difference is widely acknowledged in reviews, even Samsung acknowledged it. They are even being compared unfavourably to other Android phones like the HTC One X. Samsung's strength is marketing and volume. They know how to do that well.
    Apple should have kept pouring on the juice when the stock was at $700 instead of just giving up and folding like a house of cards.

    They haven't done anything different from when it went up to $700. There was no extra juice then and no lack of juice now, it's the same juice.
    Apple continues to get upstaged by Google and Android

    You obviously didn't watch Google's latest developer conference. It was quite a blatant 'we need to catch up to Apple'. Vector maps and 3D object models, an IDE for Android like XCode. No new hardware, no innovations, no new Android version. Pushing the Chromebook Pixel (can't imagine where they got the idea to ship a laptop with a high PPI display). Google Game Play Services (can't imagine where they got the idea for that).

    That's the problem with them having the event before Apple's. You'll have to wait until next year's Google IO so that Google can 'upstage' them by copying what's in iOS 7. If you want to see Android tomorrow, look at iOS today.
  • Reply 13 of 35


    Tim Cook took Mr. Buffet's advice. Buying back the shares in earnest reduces the total shares outstanding. That increases the earnings per share in two ways: higher revenues through product sales and less shares for those earnings. This will accelerate Apple's growth even further. Combine Apple's profitability with accelerating earnings growth and a high dividend and you have a killer stock. One that will hit $1000 a share and stay there in the next 18 months. You have been forewarned Papi. Get in now before the Boat sails away on you.

  • Reply 14 of 35
    freerangefreerange Posts: 1,597member
    shelshock wrote: »
    Glad to see Tim Cook focused on bleeding cash to stockholders and operations with no acknowledgment or game plan that the iPhone is no longer a breakout product.  This guy thinks end users will cheer for him because he is putting Apple into debt and paying dividends.  What a Sculley wanna-be.. 
    Number one selling smartphone in the world, superior OS, highest customer satifaction levels by far, best service and support, highest resell value of any smartphone, best app store on many levels, best ecosystem, and more money in the bank than they know what to do with to the tune of 150 BILLION DOLLARS - and the problem is what again?
  • Reply 15 of 35
    echosonicechosonic Posts: 462member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Go away.



    Is it me or are there a tremendous amount of new trolls here lately?

  • Reply 16 of 35
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    Tim Cook took Mr. Buffet's advice. Buying back the shares in earnest reduces the total shares outstanding. That increases the earnings per share in two ways: higher revenues through product sales and less shares for those earnings. This will accelerate Apple's growth even further. Combine Apple's profitability with accelerating earnings growth and a high dividend and you have a killer stock. One that will hit $1000 a share and stay there in the next 18 months. You have been forewarned Papi. Get in now before the Boat sails away on you.

    1) Lots of people recommended this well before Buffett did. Also, it was a fairly obvious recommendation.

    2) If it was as simple as a mechanical increase in EPS, the optimal strategy for every company would be to buy up as many shares of itself as it can, whenever it can, so that the EPS is sky-high, no? Why do you think they don't all do it all the time?

    3) What does a share repurchase have to do with 'revenues'!?
  • Reply 17 of 35
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    echosonic wrote: »
    Go away.
    Is it me or are there a tremendous amount of new trolls here lately?

    Yep.

    The good thing is, most of us know who they are.
  • Reply 18 of 35
    jdnc123jdnc123 Posts: 233member
    And what would that be, exactly?

    The former isn't because it's reckless and the latter is because you're blind.

    And for that reason, I cannot wait for Google's delicious collapse.

    Who's telling you that? It's not about the telling, it's about the believing. Wall Street sees ever-increasing profit and sells. That's their problem.

    Keeps going up, though. Marketshare, that is. So enough with that.

    lol, no. Not at all. Advertising? Hilarious.

    And yet you say "waste money on advertising".

    Every review, ever, since 2007.

    Screw Wall Street. What do they matter unless they're the ones purchasing the products? How many awards has Apple won for quality? How many charts have they topped? Screw Wall Street. 

    Sounds like they're doing that.

    That's what the lawsuits are for. You're basically saying "Apple should never have let Samsung steal their IP". How, exactly, could they have prevented it?

    What "juice"? What anything? 

    Upstaged in what freaking capacity?

    Screw Wall Street? Wall Street owns apple. Investors own Apple. What part of that doesn't your brain understand?

    Take a gander at the opinion of the current state of the opinion of Apple. Tim Cook. Gone in one year. Mark it down. Guy is in over his head. Steve Jobs was damn good at tech vision, absolutely horrific at picking CEOs.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-17/apple-seen-losing-innovation-magic-by-71-in-global-poll.html
  • Reply 19 of 35
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by robogobo View Post



    Waste of money if you ask me. I don't understand this pandering to shareholders and market hacks. Apple has enough money without requiring capital investment. Honestly, if I were them, I'd just let Wall Street play its little game and focus on delivering more great products. If the share price goes up, great. If it goes down, super. Buy it all back when it hits $50 and take the company private.



    Dividends are for companies who need investors.


     


    A company cannot own itself. What are you referring to here? Even if the stock dropped off a cliff yet again, they would require investors with the funds to buy out all shareholders. If I recall correctly something like 90% is required to coerce anyone unwilling to sell.

  • Reply 20 of 35
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    jdnc123 wrote: »
    Screw Wall Street? Wall Street owns apple. Investors own Apple. What part of that doesn't your brain understand?

    Take a gander at the opinion of the current state of the opinion of Apple. Tim Cook. Gone in one year. Mark it down. Guy is in over his head. Steve Jobs was damn good at tech vision, absolutely horrific at picking CEOs.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-17/apple-seen-losing-innovation-magic-by-71-in-global-poll.html

    A new opinion poll just released confirms you're an idiot and should go away. So it must be true. Apple has not lost money. Cook's been on the job for less than 2 years. The media's narrative is Jobs created new product lines every week.
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