Medtronic (MDT) will raise its quarterly dividend by 7.8 percent to $0.2425 per share in 2011. Last year the dividend was hiked by 2 cents to $0.225 per share quarterly. Medtronic was founded in 1949 and has paid a dividend every year since 1977.

Medtronic Public Limited Company (Medtronic) is a medical technology and services company. The Company develops, manufactures and markets its medical devices and technologies to hospitals, physicians, clinicians and patients in approximately 160 countries. The Company operates in four segments: Cardiac and Vascular Group, Minimally Invasive Technologies Group, Restorative Therapies Group and Diabetes Group.