St. Jude Medical Lifts Dividend

St. Jude Medical has declared its first quarterly dividend of 2013, and it will give investors something to cheer about. The company will hand out $0.25 per share of its common stock on April 30 to shareholders of record as of March 29. That amount represents a 9% increase over the medical-device maker's previous disbursement of $0.23, which was paid in each quarter of 2012. Before that, the dividend was $0.21 per share.

In its news release announcing the new payout, the company quoted CEO Daniel Starks as saying that "this is the second increase in our dividend since it was initiated in 2011, further demonstrating our commitment to returning value to our shareholders as we continue to focus on growing our business."

The new disbursement annualizes to $1.00 per share. That yields 2.5% at St. Jude Medical's current stock price of $40.73.

The article St. Jude Medical Lifts Dividend originally appeared on Fool.com.

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