Apple just got 'cheaper.' Will you buy?

NEW YORK. KAZINFORM Apple is the most valuable company in the world. Many consumers use (and love) its products. Yet for average investors, the stock has often been too expensive to touch.
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You could buy a 16GB iPad Air with Wi-Fi and standard cellular connections for $629 --- and that costs less than one share of Apple, CNN reports. But that just changed. A share of Apple (AAPL, Tech30) went from costing $645.57 (as of Friday's closing price) to about $92.44 -- give or take a few iCents. That's because the company did what's known as a stock split. It issued more shares to existing investors in order to bring down the price of the stock. Current shareholders received seven shares of Apple for each one they owned. As a result, the stock price is one-seventh of where it used to be. It's important to note that if you already owned Apple, nothing really changed. You just have more stock at a lower price. The value of your investment -- and the market value of Apple -- stays the same. So why is Apple doing this? Companies with stock prices above $100 often decide to split their stock to try and lure more individual investors. Depending on how shares of Apple perform following the split, other companies with stock prices in the stratosphere might also want to consider a split. Chipotle (CMG) shares trade for more than $560, for example. And Priceline's (PCLN, Tech30) stock is trading for nearly $1,250. Even though the company's stock isn't really be any "cheaper" based on the way Wall Street experts value stocks, the stock will undoubtedly be more affordable. Will you buy Apple once the stock price is lower? Let us know And the move comes at an interesting time for Apple. Shares have roared back to life this year and are now just 8% below the all-time high they set in September 2012. That peak price was just over $705. So the all-time high adjusted for the split will be closer to $100. Apple's stock has rallied for several reasons. The company is now using a big chunk of its nearly $160 billion in cash to pay dividends to shareholders and buy back stock. Stock buybacks are typically cheered by Wall Street because they are a sign a company believes its own stock is a good value. They also help to boost earnings per share by lowering the number of shares a bit. Read more

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