AAPL hits $400 price-per-share milestone on Q3 earnings beat

Apple's stock price has hit a new milestone of $400 per share in after hours trading on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $59.7 billion for its third fiscal quarter of 2020.

The price of a share of AAPL has been on the rise since a low-point on March 23 amid coronavirus-related impacts on the global economy. Since that low point, Apple has steadily recovered and climbed its way back to a $300 share price by early May. On May 26, Apple shares regained their pre-crisis levels.

On Thursday, AAPL share prices hit the $400 milestone. The stock price surge comes after Apple reported third quarter earnings that smashed analyst expectations. Although the company didn't guide for the June quarter, the general consensus pre-earnings report averaged $51.47 billion.

Based on the number of outstanding shares, the $400 milestone also means that Apple has a market capitalization of $1.67 trillion. The company is expected to be among the first in the world to hit the $2 trillion market valuation threshold.

The Cupertino tech giant on Thursday also announced a four-for-one stock split that would occur on August 24 — six years after its last stock split.

Throughout the COVID-19 economic downturn, shares of Apple have proven themselves resilient despite concerns about decreased iPhone supply and demand during the global health crisis. Since March, the company has also made a number of significant announcements and product releases, including the budget-friendly iPhone SE in April and the transition to Apple Silicon at WWDC 2020.

Apple's share price also remained resilient even as Apple CEO Tim Cook testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation into alleged anticompetitive practices on platforms such as the App Store.

Analysts also largely believe that shares of AAPL could climb even higher. Wedbush earlier in July bumped its Apple price target to $450 on bullish "iPhone 12" predictions, and Morgan Stanley upped its price target to $419 based on Apple upgrade and trade-in programs.