Bristol Myers-Squibb Lifts Dividend

Bristol Myers-Squibb joined the parade of big names boosting their dividends late Tuesday, announcing a 3.1% increase to its quarterly payout.
By Michael Baron ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) --

Bristol-Myers Squibb

(BMY) - Get Report

joined the parade of big names boosting their dividends late Tuesday, announcing a 3.1% increase to its quarterly payout.

The New York-based pharmaceutical giant, whose products include blood thinner Plavix and cancer drug Erbitux, said its board has approved a dividend of 33 cents a share on its common stock, starting in the first quarter of fiscal 2011. The dividend will be payable on Feb. 1 to shareholders of record on Jan. 7.

Other large-cap companies recently announcing dividend boosts include

General Electric

(GE) - Get Report

,

Honeywell

(HON) - Get Report

, and fellow drug maker

Pfizer

(PFE) - Get Report

.

Bristol-Myers said the quarterly dividend implies a total payout of $1.32 a share for fiscal 2011, although the dividend will be subject to quarterly review by the board. The stock closed Tuesday's regular session at $26.55, up 1.1%.

Year-to-date, the shares have gained 4% so far in 2010, and have bounced almost 20% since scraping a 52-week low of $22.24 on May 25.

--

Written by Michael Baron in New York.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here:

Michael Baron

.

>To submit a news tip, send an email to:

tips@thestreet.com

Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors, reporters and analysts from holding positions in any individual stocks.

Loading ...