AAPL Dividend History: Splits and Raises

AAPL dividend history runs across two separate eras. Apple paid a quarterly cash dividend in an earlier era that ended in the middle of the 1990s, and the continuous record behind the panels on this page opens in 2012 and has run every quarter since. Two stock splits sit inside that record, which leaves the amounts Apple declared in the past incomparable to the ones it declares now. Every figure on this page is shown twice, as declared and split adjusted, with the label attached.

The AAPL dividend history, year by year

The first panel adds up every AAPL cash dividend in that record by calendar year in both forms. The declared column is the cash written on the dividend notice at the time. The split adjusted column restates that same cash onto the share count a holder owns today, after every split the stock has been through. For the current rate and yield rather than the history, see the AAPL dividend page.

WITH payouts AS
(
    SELECT
        id,
        any(ex_dividend_date)           AS ex_date,
        any(cash_amount)                AS declared,
        any(split_adjusted_cash_amount) AS adjusted
    FROM global_markets.stocks_dividends
    WHERE ticker = 'AAPL'
      AND ex_dividend_date <= today()
    GROUP BY id
)
SELECT
    toString(toYear(ex_date))          AS year,
    round(toFloat64(sum(declared)), 4) AS declared_per_share,
    round(toFloat64(sum(adjusted)), 6) AS split_adjusted_per_share,
    count()                            AS payment_count
FROM payouts
GROUP BY year
ORDER BY year

The two lines describe the same cash and look nothing alike. For 2012 the declared total came to $5.3 per share, while the split adjusted total for that same year is $0.189286, the identical cash carried onto today's share count. For 2026 the panel reads $0.8 declared against $0.8 split adjusted. Those two match, since no split has taken place after the most recent one and nothing needs restating yet. The last year in the panel is partial and holds 3 payments so far.

The most common error on pages that list this history is mixing the two columns inside one sentence. Setting the 2012 quarterly amount as declared beside today's quarterly amount compares two different share counts, and the collapse that comparison appears to show never happened.

Why the raw AAPL dividend series is unreadable

A stock split multiplies the share count and divides the per share dividend by the same figure. The cash a holder receives does not change. The per share series still prints what looks like a deep cut on the day the split takes effect.

WITH events AS
(
    SELECT
        id,
        any(execution_date)                              AS split_date,
        any(toFloat64(split_to) / toFloat64(split_from)) AS ratio,
        concat(toString(toUInt32(any(split_to))), '-for-', toString(toUInt32(any(split_from)))) AS split_ratio
    FROM global_markets.stocks_splits
    WHERE ticker = 'AAPL'
    GROUP BY id
)
SELECT
    toString(split_date)                    AS execution_date,
    split_ratio,
    round(ratio, 0)                         AS shares_after_split,
    round(exp(sum(log(ratio)) OVER (ORDER BY split_date ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW)), 0) AS cumulative_share_count,
    formatDateTime(split_date, '%b %e, %Y') AS effective_on
FROM events
ORDER BY split_date

Apple has split its stock 3 times. The two most recent ones are the pair that scramble the dividend record: on Jun 9, 2014 one share became 7 shares, and on Aug 31, 2020 one share became 4. Counting from Feb 28, 2005, one share has turned into 56. The same arithmetic runs through the price series, so a chart of Apple's price in those years does not match the prices printed at the time. Split adjusted price history covers that side of the same adjustment.

Two eras, and the one these panels cover

The panels here read the dividend record from its first row forward, and inside that record the payments never stop. Apple's earlier era of payments, and the suspension that ended it in the middle of the 1990s, sit before the first row any panel on this page can see. One way to test whether a record holds an interruption is to measure the distance between consecutive ex-dividend dates. The ex-dividend date is the first day a buyer of the stock no longer receives the upcoming payment.

WITH payouts AS
(
    SELECT
        id,
        any(ex_dividend_date) AS ex_date
    FROM global_markets.stocks_dividends
    WHERE ticker = 'AAPL'
      AND ex_dividend_date <= today()
    GROUP BY id
),
sequenced AS
(
    SELECT
        ex_date,
        any(ex_date) OVER (ORDER BY ex_date ROWS BETWEEN 1 PRECEDING AND 1 PRECEDING) AS prior_date
    FROM payouts
)
SELECT
    concat(formatDateTime(prior_date, '%b %Y'), ' to ', formatDateTime(ex_date, '%b %Y')) AS gap_between,
    round(dateDiff('day', prior_date, ex_date) / 365.25, 2) AS gap_span,
    formatDateTime(prior_date, '%b %Y')                     AS earlier_payment,
    formatDateTime(ex_date, '%b %Y')                        AS later_payment
FROM sequenced
WHERE prior_date > toDate('1980-01-01')
ORDER BY gap_span DESC
LIMIT 6

The widest gap anywhere in the record runs 0.27 years, from Nov 2022 to Feb 2023, which is ordinary quarterly spacing. The next widest runs 0.27 years. A record that carried a suspension would sort a gap of many years to the top of that panel instead, and a per share average taken across such a gap would be averaging over years with nothing in them.

How often has Apple raised the dividend?

Since the restart the cadence has been one increase a year, landing alongside the fiscal second quarter results each spring. When companies announce dividend raises covers that calendar habit across large payers. The panel below takes the highest quarterly amount paid in each calendar year, split adjusted, and compares it with the year before.

WITH payouts AS
(
    SELECT
        id,
        any(ex_dividend_date)           AS ex_date,
        any(split_adjusted_cash_amount) AS adjusted
    FROM global_markets.stocks_dividends
    WHERE ticker = 'AAPL'
      AND ex_dividend_date >= toDate('2012-01-01')
      AND ex_dividend_date <= today()
    GROUP BY id
),
by_year AS
(
    SELECT
        toYear(ex_date)                    AS y,
        round(toFloat64(max(adjusted)), 4) AS top_rate
    FROM payouts
    GROUP BY y
),
stepped AS
(
    SELECT
        y,
        top_rate,
        any(top_rate) OVER (ORDER BY y ROWS BETWEEN 1 PRECEDING AND 1 PRECEDING) AS prior_rate
    FROM by_year
)
SELECT
    toString(y)                                 AS year,
    top_rate                                    AS quarterly_dividend_adjusted,
    round(100 * (top_rate / prior_rate - 1), 1) AS raise_pct
FROM stepped
WHERE prior_rate > 0
ORDER BY year

The panel holds 14 year over year comparisons, from 2013 through 2026, and every one of them is positive. The step at the start of the panel measured 15.1%. The most recent step measured 3.8%, taking the split adjusted quarterly amount to $0.27. A steady dollar increase on a larger base prints a smaller percentage each year, which is most of what the shape of that second line is showing. Verizon's dividend increase history tracks the same cadence question for a very different payer.

What the dividend costs Apple

A payout ratio compares the dividend with the money available to fund it. One common version uses net income. Another uses free cash flow, cash from operations minus capital spending, which is the pool the payment is drawn from. The panel below runs the free cash flow version by fiscal year.

WITH annual_years AS
(
    SELECT
        toUInt16OrZero(toString(fiscal_year))                                            AS fy,
        argMax(abs(dividends), (filing_date, period_end))                                AS dividends_paid,
        argMax(net_cash_from_operating_activities, (filing_date, period_end))            AS operating_cash_flow,
        argMax(abs(purchase_of_property_plant_and_equipment), (filing_date, period_end)) AS capex
    FROM global_markets.stocks_cash_flow_statements
    WHERE has(tickers, 'AAPL')
      AND lower(timeframe) = 'annual'
    GROUP BY fy
    HAVING fy >= 2013
)
SELECT
    toString(fy)                                                                       AS year,
    round(toFloat64(dividends_paid) / 1e9, 1)                                          AS dividends_paid_billions,
    round(toFloat64(operating_cash_flow - capex) / 1e9, 1)                             AS free_cash_flow_billions,
    round(100 * toFloat64(dividends_paid) / toFloat64(operating_cash_flow - capex), 1) AS dividends_share_of_fcf_pct
FROM annual_years
ORDER BY year

In fiscal 2025 Apple paid $15.4 billion of dividends against $98.8 billion of free cash flow, 15.6% of it. In fiscal 2013 the same measure read 23.2%. Apple's fiscal year ends in late September, so these years do not line up with the calendar years in the first panel. The dividend payout ratio explains the net income version, and cash flow coverage works through the free cash flow version in detail. Nothing in either panel forecasts the next increase. Both describe payments already made.

Trailing or indicated: which annual figure is which

Searches for an annual dividend per share number are usually after one of two things.

• The trailing figure adds up the four payments already made over the past twelve months.
• The indicated figure takes the current quarterly amount and multiplies it by four, the rate a holder would collect over a year if the amount stayed level.

The two disagree in any year that contains a raise, and they disagree by more when the raise is large. How annual dividend per share is calculated works through both, and through how to tell which one a given site is quoting.

FAQ

Has Apple always paid a dividend?

No. The record on this page opens in 2012 and holds no interruption after that, and Apple paid a dividend in an earlier era that ended in the middle of the 1990s, before this record begins. A dividend history is a record of what was paid, and a company can stop.

Why is the earliest declared amount so much larger than today's?

Every split that lands after a payment divides that payment's per share figure. The declared total for 2012 is $5.3 per share, and the same cash restated onto today's share count is $0.189286. The declared column in the first panel shows what was written on the notice at the time, and the split adjusted column shows that cash on today's basis.

How many times has Apple split its stock?

3 times in the record above. The most recent was on Aug 31, 2020, when one share became 4.

How often does Apple raise its dividend?

Once a year since the restart. The raise panel above holds 14 year over year comparisons through 2026, each one higher than the year before.

Is a quoted AAPL annual dividend trailing or indicated?

It depends on the site, and the two figures differ in any year that contains a raise. The trailing figure sums the last four payments. The indicated figure is the current quarterly amount times four.

Every panel above ships with the SQL that produced it, so any figure here can be traced back to the rows it came from. The same questions can be asked of any dividend payer in plain English on the Strasmore terminal.