How to Buy Apple Stock - NerdWallet (2024)

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Big tech stocks are coming off a rough couple of years — but some, like Apple, have made major comebacks recently: Apple shares hit an all-time high on June 5.

But whether Apple, or any other stock, deserves space in your portfolio will depend on your financial situation, current holdings and investment goals. Here's what to consider when making that decision, and how to buy Apple if you decide it's the right choice for you.

How to buy Apple stock

You can buy Apple stock through almost any online brokerage account. You'll need to add money to the account and then search within the brokerage's platform using the symbol "AAPL." You cannot buy Apple stock directly from Apple the company.

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Just purchasing the stock isn't the only thing to consider. Here are five steps to consider before purchasing Apple stock.

1. Research the fundamentals of Apple stock

You may have already made it past what can be an overwhelming part of investing — identifying the stock you want to buy — but you’re not off the hook for another important step: research.

Knowing a company as a customer doesn’t equal knowing it as an investor. Wise investors spend time doing both quantitative research (looking at things like revenue, net income and earnings) and qualitative research (evaluating the competition, management and how the company makes money, for example). If you are new to such analysis, see our guide on how to research stocks.

Apple stock is traded on the tech-heavy NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker AAPL. As part of your research, you can review Apple's annual and quarterly reports, which will outline key information regarding the company's operations, financial results, sources of income and expenses.

You can also look at factors such as Apple's price-to-earnings ratio (called a PE ratio) and its dividend yield and growth rate, especially if Apple's dividend is part of why the stock appeals to you. For reference, the company recently announced a cash dividend of $0.24 per share of Apple's common stock, payable to those who were shareholders as of May 15, 2023.

Annual and quarterly reports are available through Apple's investor relations website, and key information and stock research is also available through online brokers or independent analysis sites such as Morningstar.

» View our list: The best-performing stocks

2. Consider whether you should buy Apple stock

If you like what your research uncovers, you'll want to consider how Apple stock fits into the rest of your investment portfolio. Investing is all about diversification and asset allocation, two terms that involve spreading your money across various investments to align how much risk you're taking with your personal risk tolerance.

Investing your entire portfolio in any single stock is considered risky; one run of bad luck for that company and your whole investment is at risk. Diversifying your investments across many companies, industries and geographical locations can help reduce that risk.

So before you buy Apple stock, consider what other investments you own and how Apple slides into that mix. Does buying Apple shift your portfolio too far toward technology stocks? Too far into stocks in general? (Many rules of thumb suggest a portfolio should contain both stocks and safer investments, such as bonds.) Or does it balance out the other investments you own?

Many investors buy Apple stock as part of an index fund, which is a collection of investments wrapped together. When you purchase an index fund, you're buying a group of investments designed to track a stock market index, such as the S&P 500. Apple is included in the S&P 500 and is a large-cap stock — which refers to the company's size, or market capitalization — so it is frequently among the top holdings of S&P 500 index funds and large-cap index funds.

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How to Buy Apple Stock - NerdWallet (4)

3. Decide how much to invest in Apple stock

With research-backed reasons and portfolio analysis supporting your decision to buy Apple stock, it may be tempting to assume the amount you could buy is the amount you should buy.

Buying as much Apple as you can afford may not be the best decision, depending on your financial situation and what else currently is in your portfolio. Consider:

  • How the amount of your investment will affect the balance of your portfolio. Again, investors often try to build and keep a diverse range of investments — not too much in a single type of asset or company. A general rule is to have no more than 10% of your total portfolio in one stock. If you're interested in investing in Apple, but don't want to break your investing budget, consider a brokerage that allows you to buy fractional shares, which is a portion of a share at a lower price.

  • Your short-term goals. While the stock market is considered a proven long-term investment, it is exactly that — long-term. There are options for short-term savings when your goal is to preserve your principal rather than growing it. You should also consider whether you have enough cash set aside for an emergency. Financial experts often suggest having enough to cover three to six months of living expenses.

  • Your future investment plan. Dollar-cost averaging, a strategy of making regular investments over time, helps ensure you don’t pour all your money into the market when prices are high. You can always make future investments into Apple or any other stock over time; there's no need to invest all of your available capital at once.

4. Open a brokerage account if you don't have one

To buy Apple or any other stock, you need an account for investing — and online brokers offer the easiest way to get up and running quickly. You can open a brokerage account in about 15 minutes, and the process is similar to signing up for a checking or savings account.

Finding a broker that sells Apple stock will be easy, but it’s worth considering the breadth of additional investments the broker offers — mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, options and futures, for example — so you can round out your portfolio.

Also look for low or no commissions, excellent customer service, and tools and resources to help with your investing journey.

5. Place your Apple stock order

Now all that’s standing between you and stock ownership is buying the stock. Any stock price is determined by what’s known as the bid-ask spread, the difference in price between what sellers are willing to accept and buyers are willing to pay. Apple’s bid-ask spread is always changing, but you shouldn’t necessarily obsess over getting the lowest price when buying.

Once you’re ready to place your order, you’ll have to choose among a variety of order types offered by your broker. But two basic ones often get the job done: market and limit orders. The difference comes down to when your trade is executed. It’s done ASAP with a market order and only when the stock is trading at a specific price with a limit order.

  • A market order may be best for buy-and hold investors. You may not get the exact price you see when placing your order since stock prices can often fluctuate wildly and quickly — market orders are executed at the best available market price at the time. But these types of small differences won’t matter in the long run.

  • A limit order may be best for investors who want control over the price at which a trade is executed. This may be useful if the market is moving wildly, a stock has a wider bid-ask spread or if the price you pay is more important than executing your order. This is a risk of a limit order — it may not get executed in full or at all.

Naturally, buying Apple isn’t inherently different than purchasing other stocks (although the price may be higher), so see our general guide on how to buy stocks for additional details on making stock purchases.

Neither the author nor editor held positions in the aforementioned investments at the time of publication.

How to Buy Apple Stock - NerdWallet (2024)

FAQs

How can I buy Apple stock directly? ›

Can I purchase stock directly from Apple? No, but Apple stock can be purchased through just about any brokerage firm, including online brokerage services.

How much money do you need to buy Apple stock? ›

How much is it to buy a share of Apple? It cost less than $200 to buy a share of Apple in late 2023. You can buy shares with even less money if your broker allows trading of fractional shares. Some trading platforms allow you to invest as little as $1 into buying shares of companies like Apple.

How much money do I need to invest to make $1000 a month? ›

Reinvest Your Payments

The truth is that most investors won't have the money to generate $1,000 per month in dividends; not at first, anyway. Even if you find a market-beating series of investments that average 3% annual yield, you would still need $400,000 in up-front capital to hit your targets. And that's okay.

How much money do I need to invest to make $3,000 a month? ›

Imagine you wish to amass $3000 monthly from your investments, amounting to $36,000 annually. If you park your funds in a savings account offering a 2% annual interest rate, you'd need to inject roughly $1.8 million into the account.

How much is $10,000 invested in Apple 20 years ago? ›

Those gains translate to a 36.6% compound annual growth rate for Apple compared to a 7.4% CAGR for the S&P 500 in that time. That means that $10,000 in AAPL stock purchased 20 years ago would be worth about $5.08 million today, assuming reinvested dividends.

Can I buy $50 worth of Apple stock? ›

The next step is deciding how much Apple stock you want to buy. Most platforms will let you enter how many shares or the exact dollar amount you want to buy. For example, if the investing app allows for fractional shares, you can say that you want to buy $50 worth of AAPL (instead of full shares).

How much does 1 Apple stock pay? ›

How much is Apple's dividend? AAPL pays a dividend of $0.24 per share. AAPL's annual dividend yield is 0.57%.

Is Apple stock worth buying? ›

AAPL Stock 12 Month Forecast

Based on 31 Wall Street analysts offering 12 month price targets for Apple in the last 3 months. The average price target is $200.71 with a high forecast of $250.00 and a low forecast of $158.00. The average price target represents a 18.55% change from the last price of $169.30.

Is it smart to invest in Apple? ›

This chart shows Apple's free cash flow is considerably higher than some of the top names in tech. Apple's free cash flow actually increased 10% in 2023 despite hits to its revenue, allowing it to continue investing in its business.

How much will I have if I invest $500 a month for 10 years? ›

What happens when you invest $500 a month
Rate of return10 years30 years
4%$72,000$336,500
6%$79,000$474,300
8%$86,900$679,700
10%$95,600$987,000
Nov 15, 2023

How to make $2500 a month in passive income? ›

Invest in Dividend Stocks

One of the easiest passive income strategies is dividend investing. By purchasing stocks that pay regular dividends, you can earn $2,500 per month in dividend income. Here's a realistic example: Invest $300,000 into a diversified portfolio of dividend stocks.

How to make 1k a month passively? ›

Passive Income: 7 Ways To Make an Extra $1,000 a Month
  1. Buy US Treasuries. U.S. Treasuries are still paying attractive yields on short-term investments. ...
  2. Rent Out Your Yard. ...
  3. Rent Out Your Car. ...
  4. Rental Real Estate. ...
  5. Publish an E-Book. ...
  6. Become an Affiliate. ...
  7. Sell an Online Course. ...
  8. Bottom Line.
Apr 18, 2024

What salary brings home $3,000 a month? ›

Annual / Monthly / Weekly / Hourly Converter

If you make $3,000 per month, your Yearly salary would be $36,000.

How much money do I need to invest to make $500 a month? ›

Some experts recommend withdrawing 4% each year from your retirement accounts. To generate $500 a month, you might need to build your investments to $150,000. Taking out 4% each year would amount to $6,000, which comes to $500 a month.

How to invest 100k to make $1 million in 10 years? ›

There are two approaches you could take. The first is increasing the amount you invest monthly. Bumping up your monthly contributions to $200 would put you over the $1 million mark. The other option would be to try to exceed a 7% annual return with your investments.

How much does an Apple stock cost? ›

Apple Price: 169.30 for April 26, 2024.

Can I buy Apple stock through Robinhood? ›

Robinhood gives you the tools you need to put your money in motion. You can buy or sell Apple and other ETFs, options, and stocks.

How much will Apple stock be worth in 10 years? ›

End of 2030: Apple could reach a market cap of $8.7 trillion by 2030, representing a share price of $561. That is a 232% gain from today's price. Strong Buy Rating: Based on our Apple stock price forecast, we believe AAPL shares are a strong buy.

Is it worth buying Apple shares? ›

With its 3-star rating, we believe Apple's stock is fairly valued compared with our long-term fair value estimate of $160 per share. Our valuation implies a fiscal 2024 adjusted price/earnings multiple of 25 times, a fiscal 2024 enterprise value/sales multiple of 7 times, and a fiscal 2024 free cash flow yield of 4%.

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