One of the top dividend stocks in the healthcare sector is getting ready to hand out some cash to shareholders yet again. AbbVie (ABBV -0.48%) announced Friday that its board of directors has declared a fresh quarterly dividend of $1.18 per share.
This is to be distributed on Nov. 16 to investors of record as of Oct. 15. On Friday's closing share price, it would yield just under 5.3%. That's generous relative to the overall healthcare industry, in which dividends tend to be the exception rather than the rule. It also compares favorably to the yields of many blue chip stocks favored by dividend stock investors.
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AbbVie has been a steady dividend payer and lifter since it was spun off from Abbott Laboratories (ABT 0.09%) in 2013. Since Abbott is a Dividend Aristocrat (an S&P 500 index component that has increased its payout at least once every year for a minimum of 25 consecutive years), AbbVie is considered one too. Abbott has consistently lifted dividends for almost 50 years.
AbbVie last raised its payout in November 2019 with a 10% hike. As its declarations are made quarterly, we can assume its next announcement will also herald an increase.
Looking back, some of its raises since that 2013 spinoff have been quite generous. All told, dividend stock aficionados have done well with the company; from spinoff until the present, the payout has nearly tripled from $0.40 per share to the current amount.
On Friday, AbbVie shares traded essentially sideways, more or less in step with the development of the wider stock market.
