How To Earn $500 A Month From Apple Stock Ahead Of Q3 Earnings

As anticipation builds for Apple Inc.‘s AAPL upcoming earnings report, investors are closely watching how the tech giant’s performance might impact its stock and dividend yields. Apple will release earnings results for the third quarter after the closing bell on Thursday.Analysts expect the iPhone maker to report quarterly earnings of $1.42 per share, compared to $1.40 per share in the same period last year. Apple projects to report quarterly revenue of $89.04 billion, compared to $85.78 billion a year earlier, according to data from Benzinga Pro.On Wednesday, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives reiterated Apple with an Outperform rating and maintained a $270 price target.With the recent buzz around Apple, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company's dividends too. As of now, Apple offers an annual dividend yield of 0.50%, which is a semi-annual dividend amount of 26 cents per share ($1.04 a year). So, how can investors exploit its dividend yield to pocket a regular $500 monthly?To earn $500 per month or $6,000 annually from dividends alone, you would need an investment of approximately $1,206,009 or around 5,769 shares. For a more modest $100 per month or $1,200 per year, you would need $241,244 or around 1,154 shares.To calculate: Divide the desired annual income ($6,000 or $1,200) by the dividend ($1.04 in this case). So, $6,000 / $1.04 = 5,769 ($500 per month), and $1,200 / $1.04 = 1,154 shares ($100 per month).Note that dividend yield can change on a rolling basis, as the dividend payment and the stock price both fluctuate over time.Trending Investment OpportunitiesHow that works: The dividend yield is computed by dividing the annual dividend payment by the stock’s current price.For example, if a stock pays an annual dividend of $2 and is currently priced at $50, the dividend yield would be 4% ($2/$50). However, if the stock price increases to $60, the dividend yield drops to 3.33% ($2/$60). Conversely, if the stock price falls to $40, the dividend yield rises to 5% ($2/$40).Similarly, changes in the dividend payment can impact the yield. If a company increases its dividend, the yield will also increase, provided the stock price stays the same. Conversely, if the dividend payment decreases, so will the yield.AAPL Price Action: Shares of Apple fell 1.1% to close at $209.05 on Wednesday. Wall Street’s Most Accurate Analysts Give Their Take On 3 Energy Delivering High-Dividend Yields Photo: hanohiki via Shutterstock.com