Gilead Sciences (GILD) will raise its quarterly dividend by 9.6 percent to $0.57 per share in the first quarter of 2018. Last year the biopharmaceutical company hiked its dividend by 10.6 percent.

Based on the current stock price the new annual dividend of $2.28 per share translates into an estimated yield of 2.8% for Gilead. The next dividend is payable on March 29, 2018, to shareholders of record as of March 16, 2018. The ex-dividend date is March 15, 2018. Gilead Sciences has paid consecutive quarterly dividends since June 2015.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a research-based biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes innovative medicines. The company's principal areas of focus include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), liver diseases (hepatitis C and hepatitis B), cardiovascular, hematology/oncology and inflammation/respiratory. Gilead became a public company in 1992 and has been paying a dividend since 2015.