Thursday, AstraZeneca Plc ( AZN )  raised its annualized dividend for 2024 by $0.20 to $3.10 per share, underlining the company’s confidence in its performance and cash generation. 

The company said the 7% increase takes into account other capital allocation priorities and previously announced acquisitions and business development.

Michel Demaré, Chair, AstraZeneca ( AZN ), said: “This uplift is in line with our progressive dividend policy, which remains unchanged, and reflects the continuing strength of AstraZeneca’s investment proposition for shareholders.”

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Reuters noted the shareholders are gearing up to vote on a proposal during the annual general meeting that might increase CEO Pascal Soriot’s compensation by £1.8 million, potentially reaching £18.9 million in 2024. 

Influential proxy advisers Glass Lewis and ISS have recommended that shareholders oppose the policy.

AstraZeneca ( AZN ) intends to maintain or increase the dividend each year as part of that dividend policy.

“Shareholders won’t be blind to the fact that this is a barely disguised sweetener, but it may quell appetites enough to get the divisive package through,” Reuters highlighted, citing Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“The bigger picture for Astra still centers on the work it does on rarer and more complex treatments – dominating this area of the market takes very deep pockets, and that doesn’t appear to be under threat.”

Last month, AstraZeneca ( AZN ) agreed to acquire Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc ( FUSN ) for $21.00 per share in cash plus a non-transferable contingent value right (CVR) of $3.00 per share in cash payable upon the achievement of a specified regulatory milestone.

For fiscal year 2024, AstraZeneca ( AZN ) says total revenues and core EPS are expected to increase by a low double-digit to low teens percentage at constant exchange rates.

Concurrently, the FDA approved AstraZeneca’s Faaenra (benralizumab) as an add-on maintenance treatment for patients with severe asthma aged 6 to 11 with an eosinophilic phenotype.

Fasenra was first approved in 2017 as an add-on maintenance for severe eosinophilic asthma in patients aged 12 and older.

Price Action: AZN shares are up 2.64% at $69.91 during the premarket session on the last check Thursday.