NEW YORK (AP) — Apple Inc. shares posted a record-high closing price on Tuesday, hitting $423.24, almost three months after marking their last peak.
The last record high of $422.24 was set on Oct. 18. Shares touched a near-term low of $363.57 in late November but resumed their upward march as economic signals improved and the concerns about the European debt crisis abated somewhat.
Shares were up about 12 percent since Oct. 5, the day the company's legendary cofounder and chief executive, Steve Jobs, died.
The new peak was reached a day after the Cupertino, Calif., company disclosed in a securities filing that Tim Cook, Jobs' successor as CEO, received a pay package valued at $378 million last year, thanks to a million share grant of restricted stock that will take 10 years to fully vest.
In after-hours trading, shares slipped 52 cents to $422.72, still above the high closing mark from October.
Apple remained the second-largest company in the U.S. with a market capitalization of $392 billion. Only Exxon Mobil Corp. is bigger with a market value of $410 billion.