Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) will raise its quarterly dividend by 14.7 percent to $0.645 per share in the first quarter of 2019. The increased dividend is payable March 8, 2019, to shareholders of record at of the close of business on February 15, 2019.

This raises the annual indicated rate to $2.58 per share, yielding 2.4% at a stock price of $106.75. Eli Lilly will spin-off its stake in animal health division Elanco in 2019. Elanco has been listed since September 2018.

Eli Lilly and Company is a manufacturer of human pharmaceutical products and animal health products. It’s human pharmaceutical products include endocrinology products, neuroscience products, oncology products, immunology products and cardiovascular products. The company's Elanco division develops, manufactures and markets products for both food animals and companion animals. In September 2018 Elanco completed an initial public offering of its common stock, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ELAN." Eli Lilly and Company was incorporated in 1901 in Indiana to succeed to the drug manufacturing business founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1876 by Colonel Eli Lilly.