The dividend has always been an important component of Abbott's investment identity. We had previously indicated that we expected to combine dividend of the 2 companies to be at least equal to Abbott's pre-separation annual dividend. And we expect AbbVie to be even more focused on shareholder returns in the pharma dividends, paying a larger portion of the dividend.Assuming those dividend rates are approved, the combined dividend increase will be 5.9%, which is rather modest, but it will come a quarter earlier than usual. Note that AbbVie will trade under the ticker ABBV.
With this in mind, today, we're announcing that we expect AbbVie to pay an annual dividend of $1.60 per share, starting with the quarterly dividend to be paid in February. This, like all dividends, will be subject to approval by the future AbbVie board in January 2013. We're also announcing that we expect the new Abbott dividend to be $0.56 per share, in line with its peer group and growth prospects, again, starting with the dividend to be paid in February and again, subject to approval by the Abbott board.
In the end, this combined annual dividend rate of $2.16 for the 2 companies exceeds the current annual dividend rate of $2.04. And this increase is expected to be implemented one quarter earlier than in past years.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Dividend News: ABT
There has been some uncertainty about what will happen to the dividend of Abbott Laboratories (ABT) once the company splits at the end of this year. Some clarification was provided on today's earnings call:
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5.9% doesn't seem too bad, and a decent start to the split. ABT took quite the fall today, so it's got my attention. Would love to get in around these levels, but hoping for it to drop just a bit more.
ReplyDeleteFI Fighter: Thanks for your comment. I agree, the dividend increase is decent; hopefully there are some larger increases in future years. I also noticed the drop-off in the stock price over the past two days, but I am not currently planning to add to my position.
DeleteI'm glad they finally gave us more information. This move was announced like a year ago and I've refrained from purchasing more shares ever since.
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to clarify my thoughts on the spinoff, but I must say I'm not too keen on Abbvie. I'll probably hold it for a bit, but don't think it's something I want to own longterm. Not sure yet...
Compounding Income: Indeed, it's nice to get some clarity on the dividend. My current intention is to hold onto both companies after the split, then re-evaluate each company on its own merits by mid-year, by which time we'll have two quarters of data.
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