Apple Announces Stunning 7-1 Stock Split And Another Big Increase In Its Buyback Program
Courtesy of SAM RO of Business Insider
Apple's board just approved a big stock split, a $30 billion boost to its share-buyback plan, and an 8% increase to its quarterly cash dividend.
"The Company expects to utilize a total of over $130 billion of cash under the expanded program by the end of calendar 2015," said management.
The stock will undergo a 7-to-1 split. Each shareholder as of June 2, 2014 will receive six additional shares for every share held. And the stock will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis on June 9.
Apple closed at $524.75 today, or $74.96 on a split-adjusted basis.
And the share repurchase authorization has been increased to $90 billion from $60 billion.
The board also approved an 8% increase in the quarterly cash dividend to $3.29 per share, up from $3.05.
"We are announcing a significant increase to our capital return program," said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. "We’re confident in Apple’s future and see tremendous value in Apple’s stock, so we’re continuing to allocate the majority of our program to share repurchases. We’re also happy to be increasing our dividend for the second time in less than two years."
"Agree completely with AAPL's increased buyback and extremely pleased with results," tweeted investor Carl Icahn. "Believe we’ll also be happy when we see new products."
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