“Apple’s third dividend is expected to be paid on February 15 [sid],” Electronista reports. “The company will dole out $2.65 to 939 million shares for a total output of $2.5 billion dollars, with shareholders of record on February 11 receiving the payments… Apple’s $10 billion payout per year puts it in the top five percent of dividend allotments in the US.”
“As recently as 2010, Steve Jobs dismissed several suggestions regarding what the company should do with its growing stockpile of cash, saying that he believed that a dividend program would have no positive effect on the stock price,” Electronista reports. “Apple paid no dividends for over 17 years.”
Electronista reports, “At the time of the dividend announcement, Apple stock was worth around $550 per share. The stock broke the $700 mark in September, but has since fallen to around $465, possibly proving Jobs’ point about the dividend effort not helping the stock price of the company. Apple’s annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for February 27, and the issue of the recent drop in stock value is likely to be a hot topic.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: According to Apple, an January 23, 2013, Apple’s Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $2.65 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on February 14, 2013, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 11, 2013.
I agree w/Steve. The payout while of course helps them not have an enormous stockpile of cash, was only done to placate the WallStreeters who wanted to buy a new vacation home today. Those same bozos now try to devalue Apple so they can buy more of it and send the price up later.
Tim’s dividend ploy to calm shareholders approaching the annual meeting won’t work. We don’t want some single digit return on our stock, we want a vibrant, smart, innovative, pace setting and, most of all – a company managed by an inspired leader. You know, what Apple Inc. used to be. Until we have that kind of management, nothing is going to change and we aren’t going to be happy. Simple as that. The sooner that reality is acknowledged, the sooner we get back on track.
Speak for yourself peepee, i guarantee you have no where near as many shares as some of us that have been buying for 16+ years and we’re very happy with the status quo.
What makes you think the company isn’t still being run the same way by inspired leadership over many of the same leaders at Apple? Why are so many impatient people expecting even more from Apple & Tim Cook than when Steve Jobs was in charge? Jobs didn’t pull an extraordinary rabbit out of his hat every year either but went years in between with just incrementally better products. Internally Apple is firing on all cylinders especially since one big inhibitor (aka Scott Forstall) is gone. The best is yet to come.
ppeterson… are you Scott Forstall?
So, which day is it? Headline says 14, body says 15.
Shareholders unite and sue Einhorn.
Let the lawsuits begin against Einhorn for not only distracting the company but for robbing other shareholders of their votes (to name just a few)
A dividend is what it is – a cash return on your investment. Will it necessarily increase the stock price? Not unless investors see additional value above the current price.
If you are like me and reinvest the dividend in Apple stock then this is a vehicle to increase your holdings. Maybe small change to those who are looking for annual 30-50% growth in the stock price but still a positive growth.
When you buy into a company, there are two ways to get that investment back out. You can sell your share(s), or you can take some cash out along the way (through a dividend).
Frankly if you believe in the company, care about the people who work there, and genuinely like your customers, isn’t it better to be taking some of the cash out a little each quarter?
If you owned a pizzeria or a barber shop, wouldn’t you pay yourself some of the profit each year, rather than waiting until the day you sell your business, to get some of your investment back?
Apple is that to me. I’m not selling. So a dividend makes sense to me.
As long as the cash pile is there for a reason (stability, hedge against a daring new product failure, buy up media companies, build their own wireless provider, or whatever), I’d like to see them keep adding to that cash pile. AND investing in new manufacturing and server capacity. AND buying up promising base technologies. AND building new retail presence. AND building new campuses. AND yes, a dividend to slowly reward us shareholders for our smart investment in Apple, while also buying back AAPL shares themselves to dial back dilution whenever the market prices the shares too low.
As an Apple shareholder the two things you should be most upset about are shorting combined with sloppy reporting, and short-term speculation combined with ignorant analysts.
Well said!! Exactly on target.