Apple buoyed by Buffett, posts a record closing high

Shares of Apple posted a record closing high Friday after Warren Buffett said he added to his holdings of the iPhone maker.

The company had added 40 points during earlier trading to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which posted triple-digit gains.

The rally came after CNBC reported that Berkshire Hathaway bought 75 million shares of Apple during the first quarter and sold virtually all of its shares in IBM.

The disclosure came before Saturday’s meeting of Berkshire shareholders in Omaha, Nebraska.

As FOX Business previously reported, Apple shares rose earlier in the week after the company announced a $100 billion boost to its share buyback program. The rally came even as iPhone sales fell slightly short of Wall Street’s expectations.

Quarterly earnings per share rose 30% to $2.73, ahead of analyst projections of $2.67. Apple reported iPhone unit sales of 52.2 million, slightly below the Thomson Reuters consensus of 52.3 million.

Apple also announced a 16% increase of its cash dividend to 73 cents per share, up from 63 cents per share. 

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
AAPL	APPLE INC.	239.59	+2.26	+0.95%

The company had been widely expected to reward investors after repatriating most of its more than $250 billion in overseas cash after the tax overhaul that President Trump signed in December.

Liz Claman of FOX Business is providing coverage of the Berkshire shareholder meeting in Omaha.