One chart shows the huge amount of money Apple is spending to buy its own stock

Apple might not be a growth stock like Amazon or other tech giants, but investors can appreciate that the company tries hard to raise its stock price through stock buybacks.

A chart from RBC analyst Amit Daryanani sent out to clients on Friday underlines just how much money Apple is spending on its capital allocation program - about $6 billion per quarter over the past three years - powered by its $246 billion in cash on hand:

Apple also has a big dividend program. On average, it's spending $2.9 billion per quarter to pay out dividends since 2012. Here's the chart:

Daryanani and RBC Capital Markets believe that Apple may provide an update to its capital allocation programs during its next earnings call.

One possibility, according to the note, is that Apple could increase its dividend by 15% and raise its buyback program from $30 billion to $35 billion. However, this would depend on how it sees the possibility of bringing overseas cash back to the United States after a possible tax cut.