Abbott announced that the company’s board of directors increased its quarterly dividend by 0.5 cents to 26.5 cents per common share.
Shareholders will receive the cash dividend on Feb. 15, according to a news release.
Abbott said it has increased its dividend payout for 45 consecutive years. The company had paid a dividend for 372 consecutive quarters, which dates to 1924.
Earlier this month, Abbott filed a lawsuit in Delaware to terminate its proposed acquisition of Alere, which develops diagnostics tests for cardiometabolic disease, infectious disease and toxicology. Abbott said Alere had several incidents disclosed this year that forced Abbott to take action.
Abbott also agreed in April to acquire St. Jude Medical for $25 billion. The companies said at the time that they expected the deal to be complete by the end of 2016, although the final deal has not been officially announced. The acquisition was subject to customary closing conditions.
Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.