If you’re an Apple shareholder, you might want to buy yourself something nice on Thursday to celebrate the extra money in your bank account, courtesy of Apple. The Cupertino device maker will pay out a total of $2.77 billion in quarterly dividends.
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 would pay its shareholders a $2.65 per share dividend.
Apple saved itself $110 million in dividends this quarter, as it had bought back and retired 36 million shares during the June quarter. Apple’s spent $16 billion over the last quarter buying 36 million shares off the market at an average price of $444.44.
Apple still has $44 billion left to use in its stock buyback program over the next two and a half years.
In announcing Apple’s buyback program, company CEO Tim Cook said that “The vast majority of our incremental cash return will be in the form of share repurchases,” going on to explain 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.”
The company will also pay a dividend equivalent to holders of Apple restricted shares. Cook declined to collect dividend payments for the 1.125 million shares of restricted stock he has been granted.
Apple’s nearly $3 billion in quarterly dividend payments makes the company one of the highest dividend payers in the world.
