Shares of Apple, Inc. go ex-dividend as it gears up to distribute nearly $3 billion to holders

Posted:
in AAPL Investors edited February 2014
On Thursday, Apple will pay "shareholders of record" the company's quarterly dividend of $3.05 per share, but investors needed to own the company's stock by the market's close last Wednesday in order to qualify.

Apple


Apple automatically pays its shareholders a dividend about a month and a half after the end of each fiscal quarter. At the current stock price of $520.01, the dividend yield is 2.35 percent.

The next dividend payout date falls on Thursday November 14th for the September quarter, but the last opportunity for shareholders to qualify for the dividend ended November 11; shares changing hands two or fewer business days before the dividend record date do not transfer dividend rights.

The reason for the delay, as noted by Philip Elmer-Dewitt this spring, is an accounting principle know as the "ex-dividend" or reinvestment date, which determines the party owed the dividend when shares change ownership immediately before the dividend is paid. When a share is sold, the transaction does not "settle" for three days.

The stock market (in Apple's case, NASDAQ) automatically adjusts the value of the company's stock by the value of the dividend, as the dividend reduces the value of the company because it is paid from the company's cash holdings. With Apple's stock price now at about $520, the shares it bought over the last two quarters would now cost an additional $3.1 billion if the company had waited to buy them

This is offset by the fact that shareholders are getting the dividend, and can expect an ongoing dividend in the future in addition to the ongoing appreciation of the stock. This is further enhanced by the company's ongoing buyback program, which increases the scarcity (and therefore value) of Apple's stock by taking shares off the market.

Over the past year, Apple has been paying out around $2.5 billion in dividends every quarter, a figure that increased 15 percent to $2.8 billion earlier this year when Apple increased dividend payments to the holders of its 899.74 million outstanding shares.

$143 million less in dividend payments after buying back shares

Beginning two quarters ago, the company started paying its previously announced "significant increase" in dividends as part of an expanded capital return program.

Apple raised its quarterly dividend from $2.65 per share to $3.05 and added another $50 billion to its stock buyback program.

Apple's stock buyback spent $16 billion over the June quarter buying 36 million shares off the market at an average price of $444.44, then bought up another 10.4 million shares with a $5 billion repurchase in the September quarter at an average price of around $480.


Source: Ycharts.com


Stock buybacks "retire" outstanding shares, leaving Apple with $143 million less in dividend entitlements to pay out after the nearly 47 million shares it acquired and effectively destroyed in the last two quarters.

The buyback also necessarily raises the company's Earnings Per Share but causes its calculated market capitalization to decrease, although the fundamentals then support a higher stock price given the reduction in overall share count.

Apple's 2013 stock buybacks were essentially a massive acquisition of itself, larger than than even Google's $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility. With Apple's stock price now at about $520, the shares it bought over the last two quarters would now cost an additional $3.1 billion if the company had waited to buy them.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    hydrhydr Posts: 146member
    Hmm. I actually got my AAPL dividend on my account 8th November. Anyone else also got their earlier this time? I know it was supposed to be paid on the 14th. But mine showed up in my account on the 8th.
  • Reply 2 of 16
    You're reading your statement wrong!
  • Reply 3 of 16
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member

    47 millions less shares and EPS is still down.  Lets hope growth return in Q1, it should if they sell more units since Q1 2013 margins were 38.5% compare to 44% in Q1 2012. This year margins should be more like 37% to 38%, so if they sell more EPS will rise.

  • Reply 4 of 16
    As an Apple shareholder, those dividends are the only thing I can depend on getting from Apple as its core mobile business has hit a brick wall due to Android. All consumers want to buy are those cheap Android devices. If they didn't exist in such high quantities, smartphone and tablet prices wouldn't have fallen into the toilet bowl. Free Android changed everything about the mobile industry. Google and Android turned the mobile industry into a poverty-class industry where the cheapest product sets the Wall Street standards of high market share being the most important factor of company value. Not a damn thing Apple can do about it.

    Because Apple doesn't compete for market share the whole company has been devalued into toxic junk status. Shrinking market share, falling revenues and profits and the proliferation of Android doesn't help Apple shareholders one bit. With a stagnant share price, loyal shareholders only have those dividends to get back any sort of returns. In 2013, most profitable companies gained around 20% along with the DJIA but Apple sunk into a deep hole. Nice going, Tim Cook. How about increasing those dividends if you're not going use that reserve cash for anything else? Despite offering a dividend and share buybacks, big investors still won't touch the damn stock. What a pathetic joke. Google past $1000 without offering anything and Apple can barely hold $500.
  • Reply 5 of 16

    Ordo: Wow. That's about all I can say to your drivel is wow. 

     

    You could not have created an email so negative on AAPL without giving it some thought. Target returns since 2013? Of course, that doesn't reflect AAPL well, despite the longer term return performance being outstanding.

     

    If you are or were a long term holder of the stock, you might, as most of us do, be taking into consideration market maturity. Or areas of growth. Or any number of nuanced items that support your investment.

     

    I believe AAPL to have excellent prospects over the next 24 months. That's why I'm a shareholder. You would have us believe that you are a shareholder yet you have to hold your nose, not your shares, based on AAPL's business model.

     

    Let me spell it for you: Simple, excellent products that people want. Consistent growth. Market definition. Competitive separation. 

     

    Of course there are cycles. And perhaps you believe the magic has left AAPL. That's an opinion someone might hold. But if you are holding on AAPL because of the dividend then you're foolish.

     

    But in the end I'll call you liar. There are plenty of shills for SAMSUNG and other market manipulators with a stake in creating a perception of AAPL's fall without regard for truth. So I'm guessing you're one of those, and not a total idiot.

  • Reply 6 of 16

    Funny, a long-term Apple store employee told me the iPhone 5s/5c was the biggest rollout ever in her store.

    Odo, you left out "beleagured' when referring to Apple.

  • Reply 7 of 16
    Odo, you may qualify for Drama Queen of the Year AND Troll of the Day awards with that little hissy fit.
  • Reply 8 of 16
    @constable odo...a well paid post you wrote there. Who cut the check for you...Google or Scammy?
  • Reply 9 of 16
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post



    As an Apple shareholder, those dividends are the only thing I can depend on getting from Apple as its core mobile business has hit a brick wall due to Android...How about increasing those dividends if you're not going use that reserve cash for anything else?

    Patience is a virtue, Odo. The dividends and the stock buybacks are just a little something to tide us over. A kind of hor d'oevres, if you will. In reality, Android is commoditizing itself right out of business, while Apple continues to rake in the dough with high end products. See http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/11/12/idc-data-shows-66-of-androids-81-smartphone-share-are-junk-phones-selling-for-215 for proof. Because of that, over time, Apple's gargantuan income will allow it to simultaneously reduce its float and increase its dividend, even if its earnings growth slows a bit. In the meantime, Apple is taking care of the only people who count - their customers - by creating new products that are runaway hits yet again. We stockholders are secondary and just along for the ride. Yes, the stock price is being artificially pushed down right now. But that can only last so long. Eventually, the reality will overcome the FUD. That's when we'll reap our reward.

  • Reply 10 of 16
    U could sell the stock if u dont like it
  • Reply 11 of 16
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post



    As an Apple shareholder, those dividends are the only thing I can depend on getting from Apple as its core mobile business has hit a brick wall due to Android. All consumers want to buy are those cheap Android devices. If they didn't exist in such high quantities, smartphone and tablet prices wouldn't have fallen into the toilet bowl. Free Android changed everything about the mobile industry. Google and Android turned the mobile industry into a poverty-class industry where the cheapest product sets the Wall Street standards of high market share being the most important factor of company value. Not a damn thing Apple can do about it.



    Because Apple doesn't compete for market share the whole company has been devalued into toxic junk status. Shrinking market share, falling revenues and profits and the proliferation of Android doesn't help Apple shareholders one bit. With a stagnant share price, loyal shareholders only have those dividends to get back any sort of returns. In 2013, most profitable companies gained around 20% along with the DJIA but Apple sunk into a deep hole. Nice going, Tim Cook. How about increasing those dividends if you're not going use that reserve cash for anything else? Despite offering a dividend and share buybacks, big investors still won't touch the damn stock. What a pathetic joke. Google past $1000 without offering anything and Apple can barely hold $500.

     

    The price/earning multiple of a stock is almost always directly related to its growth. This is why Google trade at a higher multiple because its growth is steady.  Apple went from 50% YoY growth to none with both feets on the brakes. Until Apple can growth its EPS again, or until they do something that looks like its going to translate into growth (new product for example), then the stock is stalled.

     

    If you own stocks its not a problem because you just have to be patient. But be carefull with options, short term is a gamble and long term time decay kicks in. My options are all rolled into jan 2015 or jan 2016. I do have a few jan 2014, dec 2013 in case of a China Mobile deal, but that is gamble money so its a small amount.

  • Reply 12 of 16
    Distributable to shareholders as of close of business last Wednesday?

    No, close of business this past Monday (Nov. 11).
  • Reply 13 of 16
    Apple is the best stock to own in tech companies and Apple paid its first dividend in 2012. The company%u2019s stock currently has a dividend yield of 2.36%, with a one-year dividend growth rate of 330%. http://goo.gl/WyT13C
  • Reply 14 of 16
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    @constable odo...a well paid post you wrote there. Who cut the check for you...Google or Scammy?

    Neither. He's been here from 2007. I find him unduly pessimistic but I've never been on any other forum where veteran posters are accused of not just trolling but being paid off by competitors for any opinion which is in any way critical. It's insane paranoia.
  • Reply 15 of 16
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Google past $1000 without offering anything and Apple can barely hold $500.
    Shares are not equivalent, and comparing the nominal price is meaningless.

    1 AAPL =/= 1 GOOG
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