Consumer technology titan Apple (AAPL 0.31%) has been paying dividends to shareholders since 2012. The dividend, however, isn't the reason investors own the stock. This ticker's been incredibly rewarding since the company first unveiled its iPhone back in 2007, up nearly 4,500% during that time, making Apple the world's biggest publicly traded organization (as measured by market cap).
Nevertheless, it is a dividend stock. The big question? How much will Apple pay in dividends this year?
Apple stock's dividend
As of May, Apple's quarterly dividend stands at $0.25 per share. That's up a penny from February's per-share payout of $0.24, continuing the company's cadence of yearly dividend growth. Assuming the payout stays at its current level for the rest of the year, shareholders can anticipate getting $0.99 in per-share dividends payable in 2024, which will cost the company something on the order of $15 billion.
NASDAQ: AAPL
Key Data Points
It can afford them to be sure. Despite the headwind currently working against its flagship iPhone business, Apple's still managed to generate $57.6 billion in net income during the six-month stretch ending in March following a bottom line of nearly $97 billion for the fiscal year ending in September.
More growth than income
That's an encouraging degree of dividend-supporting profitability. It leaves lots of room for continued payout growth or wiggle room should earnings stumble.
For investors prioritizing income though, Apple's not your best option. Newcomers would be stepping in while the dividend yield's less than 0.5% of the stock's present price. That's not a lot, particularly given the number of higher-yielding options available right now.
Indeed, Apple remains far better-suited for growth-minded investors if for no other reason than it's investing so much more in reducing its sheer number of outstanding shares. The company spent over $43 billion on stock repurchases alone during the six months ending in March, following the prior fiscal year's $76.6 billion worth of spending on buybacks.
