Healthy dividends

One of the best health care dividend stocks around belongs to biotech company AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), which was spun off by Abbott Laboratories in 2013. It has increased its dividend payout by about 60 percent since then and recently yielded a hefty 3.9 percent. You needn’t worry about the dividend evaporating anytime soon, as AbbVie uses only about 63 percent of its earnings to fund its dividend.

Sales for AbbVie’s top seller, the anti-inflammatory drug Humira, continue to increase, raking in more than $16 billion in 2016 — a year-over-year jump of nearly 15 percent. Humira generates more than twothirds of the company’s revenue, making it a big target for competition.

AbbVie has other irons in the fire, too. The biotech’s cancer drug Imbruvica is selling well, raking in close to $2 billion last year and expected to more than double that revenue by 2020. AbbVie also has a solid pipeline — with several candidates, such as cancer drug Rova-T, autoimmune disease drug risankizumab and leukemia drug Venclexta, all having the potential to generate annual sales topping $1 billion. Corporate tax reform could give AbbVie a boost, too.

Analysts have projected average annual growth of more than 15 percent for AbbVie over the next few years. With its great dividend, great product lineup and great pipeline prospects, AbbVie is a biotech stock that investors should check out.