With quarterly revenue of $52.9 billion, net income of $11.0 billion, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.10, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) had a strong fiscal 2017 second quarter for the period ended April 1, 2017. For the same period last year, Apple reported $50.6 billion and earnings per diluted share of $1.90. Apple’s board of directors approved a 10.5 percent increase to its quarterly dividend, declaring a dividend of $0.63 per share, payable on May 18.

“We are proud to report a strong March quarter, with revenue growth accelerating from the December quarter and continued robust demand for iPhone 7 Plus,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement.

“We’ve seen great customer response to both models of the new iPhone 7 (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition, and we’re thrilled with the strong momentum of our Services business, with our highest revenue ever for a 13-week quarter. Looking ahead, we are excited to welcome attendees from around the world to our annual Worldwide Developers Conference next month in San Jose,” Cook added.

“For the second quarter in a row, our Services revenue topped $7 billion, and it’s well on the way to being the size of a Fortune 100 company. We’re very happy to see the deep level of customer engagement with the Apple ecosystem across all of our services,” said Cook on the earnings call. “App Store momentum is terrific, with revenue growing 40% year over year to an all-time quarterly record. The number of developers offering apps for sale on our store was up 26% over last year, and we’re thrilled to see their success.”

Apple announced that its board has authorized an additional $50 billion to return capital to shareholders, bringing the cumulative total to $300 billion by the end of March 2019.

“We generated strong operating cash flow of $12.5 billion and returned over $10 billion to our investors in the March quarter,” said Luca Maestri, CFO. “Given the strength of our business and our confidence in our future, we are happy to announce another $50 billion increase to our capital return program today.”

For its fiscal third quarter, Apple offered the following guidance:

• Revenue between $43.5 billion and $45.5 billion
• Gross margin between 37.5 percent and 38.5 percent
• Operating expenses between $6.6 billion and $6.7 billion

In the second quarter, iPhone sales made up 63 percent of total sales with revenue of $33.2 billion. In Apple’s fiscal Q1, its iPhone sales were $54.4 billion.

Since the financials were reported on May 2, stock prices for Apple experienced a bit of an uptick. Stock was priced at $147.51 per share on May 2, and at 7:59 PM EDT on May 17, stock was valued at $150.25 per share. This is significantly higher than Apple stock a year ago. On May 19, 2016, stock was valued at $94.56 per share.

Insider Take:

Apple had another strong quarter, and its stock prices reflect investors’ faith in the tech giant. Shortly after the earnings report, stock rose above $156, an all-time high for the company. One potential wrinkle for Apple is the suit Qualcomm filed against four Apple suppliers – Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron and Compal, for failing to pay royalties, according to The Verge. Apparently, Apple has been trying to negotiate with Qualcomm for five years, but has not been able to reach an agreement.