Apple Board Lifts Dividend; Q2 IPhone Unit Sales Down 16% YoY - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Apple Inc. (AAPL) announced its Board has approved an increase of 10 percent to the quarterly dividend, and has declared a dividend of $0.57 per share, payable on May 12, 2016 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 9, 2016.

Apple also announced that its Board has authorized an increase of $50 billion to the company's program to return capital to shareholders. Under the expanded program, Apple plans to spend a cumulative total of $250 billion of cash by the end of March 2018. As part of the updated program, the Board of Apple Inc. has increased its share repurchase authorization to $175 billion from the $140 billion level announced last year. The company also expects to continue to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units.

For its fiscal 2016 second quarter ended March 26, 2016, Apple reported net income of $10.5 billion, or $1.90 per share compared to $13.6 billion, or $2.33 per share, in the year-ago quarter. On average, 36 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $2.00 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Gross margin was 39.4 percent compared to 40.8 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Quarterly revenue was $50.56 billion compared to $58.01 billion, last year. Analysts expected revenue of $51.97 billion, for the quarter. International sales accounted for 67 percent of the quarter's revenue. For the second-quarter, iPhone unit sales were down 16% from prior year.

For its fiscal third-quarter, Apple expects: revenue between $41 billion and $43 billion; and gross margin between 37.5 percent and 38 percent. Analysts expect revenue of $47.32 billion for the quarter.

Shares of Apple Inc. were down more than 7% after hours.