Exxon Mobile Corp was the largest dividend payer in the S&P 500, paying out over $11.5 billion per year to stock holders. But with Apple increasing their dividend by 10% with their most recent earnings report, they will now be paying out over $12 billion yearly in dividends. This dividend raise was in addition to the companies large stock buyback program which is investing $140 billion in Apple stock.

The company has become a cash cow with the popularity of its phone and tablet products. Even with the large stock buyback and the huge dividend payouts, the company still has plenty of cash on hand to invest in research and development of new products.

The buyback program is similar to other companies that are flush in cash. The last three months have been the busiest ever in stock buybacks.

The stock is up 19% this year but was down slightly today before its earnings release.