Apple Raises Dividend 4% On Strong Earnings

Consumer electronics giant Apple (AAPL) has raised its quarterly dividend payment by 4% to $0.24 U.S. per share as it reported better-than-expected earnings.

It is the 11^th consecutive year that Apple has increased its dividend payout to shareholders.

At the same time, Apple announced a new $90 billion U.S. stock buyback program, matching the previous amount of share repurchases by the technology company.

Apple bought back more of its own stock than any other company in 2022. Apple said it spent $23 billion U.S. on share repurchases and dividend payments in this year’s first quarter.

The benefits to shareholders come as Apple announced fiscal second-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations on both the top and bottom lines.

The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.52 U.S. versus $1.43 U.S. that was expected among analysts.

Revenue in the period totaled $94.84 billion U.S. compared to $92.96 billion U.S. that was the consensus forecast of analysts who track the company’s performance.

Apple also announced gross margins of 44.3%, which was slightly ahead of the 44.1% margin expected.

The strong results were fueled primarily by robust sales of Apple’s iPhone. Among its various product categories, the iPhone was the top performer.

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iPhone revenue came in at $51.33 billion U.S. versus $48.84 billion U.S. that was forecast for fiscal Q2.

Sales of both the Mac computer and iPad tablet came in below Wall Street expectations.

However, the “Other Products” segment posted revenue of $8.76 billion U.S., better than the $8.43 billion U.S. that analysts had penciled in.

As is customary, Apple didn’t provide formal guidance for the current quarter, a practice that began with the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

However, Apple executives said during an earnings call with media and analysts that they expect overall revenue in the current quarter to decline about 3%.

Apple also said it has no plans for the kinds of mass layoffs seen at other technology companies this year.

The stock of Apple is up 6% over the past 12 months and trading at $165.79 U.S. per share.