Dividend Aristocrat Abbott Laboratories (ABT) will raise its quarterly dividend by 14.3 percent to $0.32 per share in the first quarter of 2019. This marks the 47th consecutive year of dividend increases for ABT.

The increased cash dividend is payable Feb. 15, 2019, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Jan. 15, 2019. A new annualized dividend rate of $1.28 per share yields 1.8% at a stock price of $70.76.

Abbott Laboratories is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture and sale of a broad line of health care products. The company's products include pharmaceuticals, nutritional, diagnostics, and vascular products. The Pharmaceutical Products segment includes a range of branded generic pharmaceuticals. Abbott’s Nutritional Products include a range of pediatric and adult nutritional products. Through St. Jude Medical the company offers products, such as rhythm management products, electrophysiology products, heart failure related products, vascular products, structural heart products and neuromodulation products. Abbott has paid consecutive quarterly dividends since 1924.