Amgen Inc. on Thursday announced it will start paying a quarterly dividend in the current second quarter, and expects to pay about 20 percent of its adjusted annual profit in dividends.

The Thousand Oaks company, considered the world’s largest biotech, made the announcement before a meeting with analysts in New York City. Chief Executive Kevin Sharer said the company expects be able to raise its dividend “meaningfully” over time. The company currently has about $17.4 billion in cash. The amount of the dividend will be specified when second quarter earnings are announced.

By 2015, the company said it will return an average of 60 percent of its adjusted profit to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases. Amgen continues to expect its adjusted profit to grow to between $7.25 and $8.60 per share in that year, with revenue rising to a range of $16 billion to $18 billion. The company, which has $2.2 billion remaining on its last stock buyback authorization, said the board has approved increasing repurchases by $5 billion.

“Our prospects through 2015 are strong and our strategy is clear,” Sharer said. “A dividend and future share repurchases are important elements of our commitment to return significant value to shareholders.”

Despite a 3 percent increase in first-quarter revenue, Amgen late Wednesday reported a 4 percent decline in net income largely due to higher spending to launch its bone drugs Prolia and Xgeva, which are expected to become billion dollar blockbusters.

Shares closed down $2.49, or 4.4 percent, to $53.69 on the Nasdaq.