With revenue of $43.6 billion, and earnings of $10.09 per share for the second quarter 2013, Apple today announced the “more than doubles” capital return program. In the expanded program, the company says it expected to utilize a total of $100 billion of cash by the end of calendar 2015, representing a $55 billion increase to the program announced last year.
The move means the Board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the earlier $10 billion level announced last year. The company also expects to utilize about a billion dollar annually to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units.
Also, along with this, the Board has approved a 15% increase in the Company’s quarterly dividend with declaring today a dividend of $3.05 per common share, payable on May 16, 2013 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 13, 2013.
“We are very fortunate to be in a position to more than double the size of the capital return program we announced last year,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We believe so strongly that repurchasing our shares represents an attractive use of our capital that we have dedicated the vast majority of the increase in our capital return program to share repurchases.”
“We will continue to return capital to shareholders through dividends, share repurchases, and cash used to net-share-settle vesting RSUs,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “We continue to generate cash in excess of our needs to operate the business, invest in our future, and maintain flexibility to take advantage of strategic opportunities.”
