CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL) shares have been enjoying a strong run since last spring.
On 31 October, shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) biotech stock closed trading for $232.35.
On Friday, shares shook off the wider market malaise to close up 0.2% at $311.70 apiece. That marked a fresh 52-week high for the stock.
Today, CSL shares are succumbing to the broader sell-off we're seeing on the ASX 200, with shares currently down 0.9% at $308.82 apiece.
Still, that sees shares in the ASX 200 biotech company up 33% since 31 October.
And then there's the company's dividends.
Image source: Getty Images
Should I buy CSL shares for the dividend growth?
Jed Richards, senior investment advisor at Shaw and Partners, has a hold rating on CSL shares.
But he notes (courtesy of The Bull) that the company is "the world's largest maker of plasma-based therapies" and "a global leader in treatments for immunodeficiency and bleeding diseases, such as haemophilia".
Richards adds:
CSL is one of the world's biggest suppliers of flu vaccines. The company is well managed and is steadily growing its dividend stream. It usually under-promises and over-delivers when it comes to profit.
Indeed, CSL has increased both its interim and final dividend payouts four years running now.
The company paid a final dividend of $2.008 a share, franked at 10%, on 4 October. The unfranked interim dividend of $1.799 a share was paid on 3 April.
That equates to a (rounded) full-year payout of $3.81 a share.
Now, at the current share price of $308.82, that works out to a modest trailing yield of 1.2%.
But with CSL shares in a strong uptrend over the past eight months and Richards noting the biotech company "usually under-promises and over-delivers" on its profit guidance, I might do well to buy shares now before CSL reports its full-year results.
At its latest half-year results, released on 13 February, the company reported an 11% year-on-year increase in revenue in constant currency to US$8.05 billion. Net profit after tax, also in constant currency terms, was up by 20% to US$1.94 billion.
And, as mentioned up top, CSL once again increased its interim dividend, boosting it by 11% over the FY 2023 interim dividend of $1.62 a share.
CSL also reaffirmed its FY 2024 guidance at the time.
The company expects underlying profit after tax and amortisation to fall between $2.9 billion and $3.0 billion (at constant currency). That's 13% to 17% higher than it achieved in FY 2023.
