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With iPhone sales expected to fall on a year-over-year basis for the first time in the March quarter, Apple ( AAPL ) investors are shifting their focus toward the company’s annual adjustments to its capital return program. Apple is expected to increase its quarterly cash dividend and raise its stock buyback plan when it announces fiscal-second-quarter earnings on April 25. The question is: How much will Apple boost its capital return outlay? Last year, Apple increased its quarterly dividend by 11% to 52 cents a share and raised its share repurchase authorization to $140 billion from the $90 billion level announced in 2014. In total, Apple’s directors last year authorized an increase of more than 50% to the company’s program to return capital to shareholders. Under that plan, Apple expected to use a cumulative total of $200 billion in cash by the end of March 2017. Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha on Friday said Apple could comfortably raise its capital return by about $10 billion per year over the next two to three years. “This would result in a capital return of about $53 billion per year, or roughly 8.5% of Apple’s market cap,” Garcha said in a report. Garcha reiterated his outperform rating on Apple stock with a price target of 150. Apple stock was flat, near 112, in midday trading on the stock market today . RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani said March 27 that Apple could raise its dividend by 10% to 15% to get its yield above 2%. Apple also could boost its stock buyback program to $40 billion to $50 billion a year, compared with $35 billion last year, he said in a report. Earlier last month, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted Apple would raise its dividend by 5% to 10%. Apple Car Strategy Is Likely A Software Initiative Meanwhile, Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba on Friday reiterated his buy rating on Apple with a price target of 120. In a report, Lamba said Apple could make a bigger push into the automotive market with software-led developments in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). “We think Apple is likely to participate in the ADAS market in some way, even though it has yet to highlight its plans,” Lamba said. “Apple has clearly communicated its intentions of becoming a more pervasive part of the consumer lifestyle experience over time. “As it pertains to the auto market, CEO Tim Cook believes the industry could be poised for disruption with ‘electrification and autonomous driving’ in the near term. As an anecdote, we find evidence to support these ambitions in the company’s recent, aggressive hiring plans across engineering and operations.” While some analysts believe Apple is working on its own car, Lamba says it’s more likely the company will provide technology to current automakers. It already offers its CarPlay software to several major automakers. On Thursday, Motor Trend magazine provided its best guess at what an Apple Car might look like . Its artist conceptions show an almost egg-shaped vehicle with a glass ceiling and double-wide gull wing doors. RELATED: Apple iPhone Sales Could Fall For 3 Straight Quarters, Analyst Says Apple Should Be Valued Like Internet, Not Hardware, Company . Scalper1 News
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