Apple eyeing $90bn buyback and dividend hike as coffers overflow
Apple could unleash $90bn worth of share buybacks and unveil bumper dividend payouts as bosses look to burn off excess cash, a top analyst has predicted.
In a note today, Citibank analyst Jim Suva said the tech giant could announce a buyback of between $80bn and $90bn and hike its dividend between five and ten per cent when it reports its annual results at the end of this month, Bloomberg reported.
The firm has been ramping up buy backs with Apple’s repurchases topping $274.5bn, including $20.4bn in the quarter to December.
But bosses are now poised to ramp up the buy back programme further with more than $200bn on the balance sheet and the green light to buy up to $315bn of stock.
It comes despite a difficult start to the year which saw the firm’s share price slide as investors fled tech stocks amid market turbulence.
Apple’s share price plunged over 17 per cent from the start of the year to mid-March but it has enjoyed a resurgence in recent weeks, rising ten per cent since mid-March.