So, you want to invest in AbbVie (ABBV -0.34%) because it's a promising dividend-paying stock, and you also want to receive $1,000 per year in dividend income from it. How many shares should you buy? The answer requires a little simple math.

Shares of AbbVie were recently trading for $212 apiece, and the company's total annual dividend amount (paid out over four quarters, like most dividend payers) is currently $6.56. The dividend might go up or down, but that's what it is as I write this.

If you're looking to collect $1,000, simply divide that $1,000 by $6.56. You'll get 152, which is the number of shares you'd need to own for a year to get $1,000 in dividend payments. At the recent share price, that would cost you $32,224.

Image source: Getty Images.

Hmm...that might be a tall order for you. It would be for most Americans. Even if you could swing it by putting most of your portfolio into AbbVie, you'd then have too many eggs in that one basket. So consider including some other promising dividend stocks in your mix.

Note, too, that like many healthy and growing dividend payers, AbbVie has been hiking its payout annually. So if you only buy enough to collect, say, $300 in annual income, that sum will likely grow over time.

Should you invest in AbbVie?

AbbVie is looking like a quite attractive investment. Spun off from Abbott Laboratories in 2013, it's a major international pharmaceutical company with a recent market value near $380 billion, known for treatments in the fields of immunology, oncology, aesthetics, neuroscience, and eye care.

Bulls are excited about its move into the weight loss drug arena and they love its dividend, too, which recently yielded 3.1% and has grown at an average annual rate of 7% over the past five years. Bears worry about how the company will make up for income lost due to patent protection expiration of blockbusters such as Humira, though AbbVie does have some new drugs selling briskly.