S&P 500 Stocks Hit Ex-Dividend Milestone as Apple, Visa Lead

Eleven S&P 500 stocks are set to go ex-dividend next week. This means that investors who purchase shares before the ex-dividend date will be eligible for the upcoming dividend payment.

For example, Apple (AAPL) has an ex-dividend date of August 3 and a payout date of August 14. If an investor owns the shares before August 3, they will receive the dividend paid on August 14.

The tech giant is preparing for a fall launch of Siri AI - a redesigned Siri, and has announced new frameworks that will grant app developers access to Apple Intelligence - Apple's suite of AI features. Analysts are divided on the potential impact of the new AI features, with Goldman Sachs seeing a meaningful monetization opportunity and UBS not expecting it to be a significant driver of hardware demand.

International Business Machines (IBM) shares have been trading 30% off their 52-week high after the company disclosed that some customers have delayed capital spending projects. However, management reassured investors that these deals are being postponed, not canceled, and that IBM's investments in quantum computing should begin to have a measurable impact on revenue and earnings by 2028 or 2029.

Visa (V) has normalized post-pandemic growth rates but continues to drive consistent growth with resilient consumer spending and steady transaction volumes across over 200 countries. The company is also pushing into value-added data services and cyber-security tools, which analysts see as sustainable drivers for future margin expansion.