John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by John Hancock Funds, LLC. It is co-managed by John Hancock Advisers, LLC and John Hancock Asset Management. The fund invests in public equity markets of the United States. It seeks to invest in the stocks of companies operating across the diversified sectors. The fund invests in the preferred stocks and common stocks. It invests in preferred stocks and debt obligations that are rated investment grade by Moody or S&P, or preferred stock of issuers of investment-grade senior debt. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index and the Merrill Lynch Preferred Stock DRD Eligible Index. It was formerly known as John Hancock Patriot Premium Dividend Fund II. John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund was formed on December 21, 1989 and is domiciled in the United States.