Stryker to raise dividend by 11%, but implied yield remains below peer group

Stryker Corp. announced Wednesday that it was raising its quarterly dividend by 11%, but that would keep the implied dividend yield on the medical technology company's stock below its peer group. The company said the new dividend of 57.5 cents a share, up from the latest dividend of 52 cents a share, would be payable Jan. 31 to shareholders of record on Dec. 31. Based on the current stock price, the new annual dividend rate would imply a dividend yield of 1.13%, compared with the yield on the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF of 1.50% and the implied yield for the S&P 500 of 1.91%, according to FactSet. The stock, which rose 0.4% in afternoon trading, has gained 18.4% over the past 12 months, while the health care ETF has tacked on 6.9% and the S&P 500 has advanced 15.5%.

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