By msnbc.com staff
Shares of technology powerhouse Apple hit another milestone Thursday, topping the $600 mark for the first time and extending their recent rise to a seventh straight session.
The move comes after Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook introduced the highly anticipated third iteration of the iPad last week. The device goes on sale Friday.
Apple's rally has been stunning -- the stock is up 47 percent for the year and nearly 10 percent for the month. It closed above $500 for the first time on Feb. 13, and just before Christmas, on Dec. 23, it closed above the $400 mark for the first time.
On Feb. 29, Apple’s stock market value hit the $500 billion mark, moving it into territory where few companies have gone before.
The record marked another high for Apple -- already the world's most valuable corporation, having recently edged past oil giant Exxon Mobil -- and meant it was worth more than high-tech rivals Microsoft and Google combined.
Earlier this week, Morgan Stanley and Canaccord Genuity both lifted their price targets on the stock to above $700.
Apple currently makes up about 18.5 percent of the Nasdaq 100 stock index. It was cut to 12.3 percent from 20.5 percent in April 2011, but a surge in price has pushed the stock back up, making this index of 100 well-known companies hostage to the performance of a few technology titans like Apple.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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