Abbott Laboratories dividend history | 50 years increased in 2021

Dividend Aristocrat Abbott Laboratories (ticker symbol ABT) will raise its quarterly dividend by 4.4 percent to $0.47 per share in 2021. This marks the 50th consecutive year of dividend increases by the healthcare company.

Abbott is one of many Dividend Aristocrats to announce a dividend hike in December. For Abbott shareholders the new 4.4 percent dividend hike may be a little dissapointing given the fact that last year the dividend was hiked by no less than 25 percent. 

Abbott's next dividend of 47 cents per share is the 392nd consecutive quarterly dividend to be paid by Abbott since 1924. The cash dividend is payable February 15, 2022, to shareholders of record at the close of business on January 14, 2022. The new annual dividend rate of $1.88 per share yields 1.4% at a stock price of $133 for Abbott Laboratories.

For Abbott Labs this new dividend increase marks 50 years in a row of higher dividends paid to shareholders. Abbott is a member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index, which tracks companies that have increased dividends annually for at least 25 consecutive years. Abbott also announced a $5 billion repurchase.

"Fifty years of dividend growth reflects the consistently strong performance of our diversified business model," said Robert B. Ford, president and chief executive officer, Abbott. "It exemplifies our longstanding commitment to delivering sustainable growth that fuels innovation as well as shareholder returns."

Abbott Laboratories is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a diversified line of health care products. Abbott's four segments are: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. Its products include a line of rhythm management, electrophysiology, heart failure, vascular and structural heart devices for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes care products for people with diabetes, as well as neuromodulation devices for the management of chronic pain and movement disorders. Abbott is a Dividend Aristocrat having increased its dividend for more than 25 consecutive years. Years ago fellow Aristocrat AbbVie (symbol ABBV) was separated from Abbott.