Apple Stock

The price of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares slid nearly two percent Wednesday morning due, most likely, to two disappointing developments in China. For the last month rumors have been swirling that China Mobile would announce the availability of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on its network, which it did not do; and Jabil Circuit, a parts provider for Apple, issued earnings guidance that fell far short of expectations.

Investors and enthusiasts alike were expecting China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier, to announce that it would begin selling Apple's iPhones on December 18th, despite the fact that neither Apple nor China Mobile ever officially confirmed today as the launch date. The speculation was bolstered by China Mobile's December 18th launch date of its 4G network, which it did in fact carry out. Despite the lack of an announcement, analysts do not appear alarmed. In a note to

After having its strongest November performance ever and then reaching a 52 week high of $577.25 on Thursday, December 5, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stocks came down a bit, ending last week at $554.43. Despite the drop, analysts remain bullish about the company's future.

According to The Motley Fool, Apple still has plenty of room to grow. Stock prices have risen 40% since June yet still remain 20% lower than last year's all time high. The company has also upgraded its product portfolio in recent months with the addition of the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c. The 5s has been the best selling smartphone for all four major U.S. carriers in each of the past three months, while the 5c has held the second or third spot at each carrier. Additionally, the iPhone has enjoyed success in foreign markets recently, with the 5s, 5c and 5 taking three of the top four spots for global smartphone sales in October. The 5s and 5c are likely to launch on China Mobile this week, which should result in a surge in sales.

Apple stock hit new territory today as the share price closed at an all-time high of $636.34. This news comes as Apple was scheduled to pay a dividend of $2.65 per share to AAPL shareholders today. The dividend is Apple's first since December 1995.

The graph above from Yahoo Finance shows an over 6,200 percent increase in price since 1995. Apple stock is up almost 60 percent this year. Trading action on AAPL today hit an intraday high of $644 before coming back down before the close. At the peak, total market capitalization topped $600 billion.

Shares of Apple (AAPL) have reached a milestone for the year, with shares opening trading over $200 today. Although shares of the Cupertino based computer giant have crested past the $200 mark in both of the last two days, end of day trading has seen share prices retreat back below the $200 mark before closing.

Shares have risen over 60 percent since the introduction of the wildly popular iPhone at the end of June of this year. Sales of the iPhone, combined with the continuing growth of Apple's market share in the PC sales arena, have catapulted the share price of Apple's stock.

Perhaps most importantly, analyst firms remain almost unanimously optimistic about Apple's continuing growth. Almost all of the analyst firms on the street have target prices above $200, with Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster leading the