Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Apple Seen Raising Dividend More Than 50% to $16 Billion


Apple will probably lift its quarterly dividend 56 percent to $4.14 a share, for an annual payout of $15.7 billion, according to the average estimate from six analysts. The resulting yield of 3.6 percent would be higher than 84 percent of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index paying dividends. Apple could fund a payout with existing cash flow without using profit from overseas, which can be subject to extra taxes, Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos told Bloomberg.

CEO Tim Cook, who a year ago this month reinstated a dividend and announced a $10 billion buyback, faces mounting pressure to take bolder steps to pay out more of Apple’s $137.1 billion in cash and investments. Investors including David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital Inc. are pushing for more money as growth slows and competition from rivals such as Samsung intensifies....

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