2 Dividend Stocks to Buy Hand Over Fist in April

2 months ago 18

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Eric Volkman, The Motley Fool

Sat, Apr 5, 2025, 5:30 AM 4 min read

One origin that keeps immoderate investors distant from healthcare stocks is the sector's dearth of generous and reliable dividend payers. This stands to reason, arsenic astir each signifier of cause improvement and selling is resource- and capital-intensive, and arsenic a result, currency tin beryllium successful abbreviated supply.

In this wide and heavy sector, though, determination are immoderate notable exceptions. Let's instrumentality a look astatine 2 outliers with dividend policies that person looked particularly charismatic lately -- pharmaceutical companies Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) and AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV).

Amgen's engagement successful the high-demand obesity drugs contention has attracted attraction recently, but the pharmaceutical assemblage prima has been connected the radar of clever investors for years. These days, it's a precise steadfast and thriving institution with an enviable lineup of blockbuster drugs, and a beardown pipeline.

Last twelvemonth was a standout 1 for Amgen. No less than 10 of its medications posted double-digit percent income growth. High cholesterin attraction Repatha vaulted higher with a 36% summation implicit 2023 to much than $1.6 billion. In axenic dollar terms, the company's champion was osteoporosis cause Prolia, with its astir $4.4 cardinal successful income posting sturdy 8% growth.

For the year, wide gross roseate by 19% to a spot implicit $33.4 billion. Net income was down due to the fact that of notably higher costs successful areas specified arsenic probe and development, but Amgen was inactive good successful the achromatic connected the bottommost enactment (at astir $4.1 billion, against 2023's $6.7 billion).

Although past year's bottommost enactment was skinnier, Amgen isn't going connected a dividend diet. In fact, the institution declared 1 of its habitual dividend raises past month, cranking its quarterly payout 6% higher to $2.38 per share. That would magnitude to a 3% output connected the astir caller closing banal price, a percent complaint astir treble that of the mean dividend output of the S&P 500 scale constituent companies.

There's inactive plentifulness of clip to leap connected Amgen's dividend raise. The caller payout is to beryllium dispensed connected June 6 to investors of grounds arsenic of May 16.

Like Amgen, AbbVie besides places overmuch value connected its quarterly dividend. It's besides a comparative precocious yielder astatine implicit 3%. There's astir apt much substance successful the tank, arsenic absorption likes to state regular dividend raises, arsenic it did successful mid-February. With its latest hike, a 6% bump to $1.64 per share, the institution has lifted the organisation implicit 25 years successful a row.

Those hikes aren't needfully incremental. Over the past 10 years, the per-share payout has much than tripled to the contiguous level. Again arsenic with Amgen, the model to instrumentality vantage of the latest dividend rise is presently unfastened -- the payout volition beryllium distributed connected May 15 to stockholders of grounds arsenic of April 15.