Dividend Aristocrat Medtronic (MDT) will raise its quarterly dividend by 8.7 percent to $0.50 per share in 2018. Last year the dividend was hiked by 3 cents to $0.46 per share quarterly.

The dividend is payable on July 25, 2018, to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 6, 2018. Based on the new annual dividend of $2.00 per share MDT yields 2.3% at the current stock price of $86.30.

"We are committed to creating shareholder value through efficient and disciplined capital allocation, and this starts with providing a strong and growing dividend to our shareholders. Today's dividend increase reflects the confidence of our board and management team in the strength of the company's cash flow generation," said Omar Ishrak, Medtronic chairman and chief executive officer. "We are focused on continuing to improve our cash flow conversion, creating additional capital that can be both reinvested to drive future growth and returned to our shareholders."

Medtronic's dividend per share has grown by 300 percent since fiscal year 2008 and has grown at a 17 percent compounded annual growth rate over the past 41 years.

Medtronic plc, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is a medical technology, services, and solutions company.  The company has four operating segments that primarily develop, manufacture, distribute, and sell device-based medical therapies and services: Cardiac and Vascular Group, Minimally Invasive Therapies Group, Restorative Therapies Group and Diabetes Group. The company's primary customers include hospitals, clinics, third-party health care providers, distributors, and other institutions, including governmental health care programs and group purchasing organizations (GPOs). Medtronic was founded in 1949 and has paid a dividend every year since 1977.