Apple Committed To Dividend Hike

Shares of

moved higher early Friday afternoon, coinciding with the company's annual shareholder meeting. During the meeting, Apple's executive committed to raising the stock's annual dividend rate, but will update investors on any such raises in April. Apple currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share. The company previously paid a quarterly dividend of $0.47 and the dividend hike came into affect on February 15, 2015.

Apple's stock has lost more than 7 percent since the start of 2016 and approximately 25 percent over the past year.