Walgreens Raises Dividend for 35th Consecutive Year
- July 14, 2010
- Dividend Investing, Dividend News, Dividend Stocks
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Walgreens (WAG: 34.21 +3.26%) announced today that they company will raise their quarterly dividend for the 35th consecutive year.
The drug store chain is increasing their quarterly dividend by 27% to $.175 per share. The dividend increase will lift the stock’s current yield to 2.4% based on today’s closing price.
Walgreens is a member of the exclusive group of S&P 500 dividend aristocrats – stocks that have increased their dividend for at least 25 consecutive years. Walgreens has now raised their dividend for 35 consecutive years and has been paying a dividend for more than 77 years.
The dividend increase comes as welcome relief to investors. The stock has fallen nearly 20% this year as troubles with CVS and cost of the Duane Reade acquisition have weighed on the stock. Maybe this dividend increase will be the catalyst that Walgreens needs.
Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson said, “This increase reinforces our commitment to provide meaningful returns to our shareholders and extends our track record of strong annual dividend growth. We are confident in our growth strategies and our ability to generate strong free cash flow in the future.”
The 27% dividend increase was higher than the 22% increase that WAG announced last year or the 18% increase in 2008.
The dividend will be payable on September 11, 2010 to shareholders of record as of August 19, 2010.
