Stock Split and Apple

Apple: In the first three months of the year, Apple grew its revenue to $45.6bn, well above analysts expectations of $43.5bn in revenue for the first three months of the year, according to The Guardian. On news of the stock split, Apple's stock rapidly jumped 8% or $42 in after-hours trading, landing at $566 before the stock was halted. Apple also offered another palliative to investors by growing its spending on dividends and share buybacks by one-third to $130bn. Stockholders like dividends because they promise easy and reliable income, and Apple is already generous, raising its dividend twice in two years and paying $11bn annually to its shareholders. Investors like share buybacks because it allows them to get premium prices for their stock; it also means companies use their cash, which otherwise lays fallow unless it is invested somewhere. "We are planning for annual dividend increases," promised CEO Tim Cook on a conference call with investors and Tech giant Apple chose a bombshell solution to the problem of its struggling share price, launching a full-on charm offensive to win over investors with a financial candy basket of stock splits and huge dividend increases to win back those who may have been disillusioned by the company's lagging growth. Among the biggest of Apple's moves was a seven-for-one stock split so that every investor will get six additional shares. Apple has done stock splits before in 1987, 2000 and 2005 but they have been on a much smaller scale. The company has done only two-for-one stock splits in the past , meaning that investors received two shares for every one they owned. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.