Apple stock closes above $600 for first time since 2012

Apple’s stock broke the $600 barrier during late trading on Monday, the first time it has hit that mark since 2012.

Back then, Apple’s stock was on a long tumble down from its peak of $702.10 that it reached in September 2012. At the time, investors seemed worried about a variety of issues, including a botched Apple Maps rollout, supply chain hiccups, and the prospect of slowing growth.

Apple’s stock dipped as low as $390.53 in April 2012. But since then, the stock has recovered steadily.

In more recent months, the company reported record sales for the holiday quarter of December 2013, and better-than-expected earnings for the first three months of 2014.

But perhaps just as importantly to investors, Apple has continued to crank up efforts to buy back stock and return bigger dividends.

Apple’s board recently increased money for share repurchases to $90 billion from $60 billion. The company also announced plans for a 7-to-1 stock split.