Jefferies Raises Price Target on Apple (AAPL) to $599, Sees Dividend This Year

Jefferies boosted its price target on Buy-rated Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) from $550 to $599 follow much stronger than expected Q1 results. The firm maintained their Buy rating.

The firm comments, "Stellar iPhone shipments of 37.0M (above our Street-high 33M est; St 30M) and 1.5M iPad upside drove the strong results (revenues beat by $7B). Combined with CQ1 guidance above consensus and the biggest product launch year in the company's history, we raise our estimates, raise our target to $599, introduce
Street-high FY13 estimates, and reiterate our Conviction Buy List rating."

Jefferies also expects a dividend from the company this year. "We expect a dividend later this year: with ~$100 per share (~$97B) of cash and our estimate of $150/share ($142B) by year end, we believe a dividend becomes even more likely. Also, we believe Apple's board realizes that it needs to increase its potential investor base in order to achieve a >$500B market cap. We believe that having a dividend could increase Apple's available capital pool by 3x to 4x."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Apple click here. For more ratings news on Apple click here.

Shares of Apple closed at $420.41 yesterday.

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