Altria raises dividend for 49th consecutive year

Altria Group (MO) will raise its dividend to $0.70 per share quarterly, marking the 49th consecutive year of dividend increases.

Dividend Aristocrat Altria will increase its quarterly dividend by 6.1 percent, following last year's 8 percent dividend hike.

The quarterly dividend is payable on April 10, 2018, to shareholders of record as of March 15, 2018. The ex-dividend date is March 14, 2018.

The new annualized dividend rate is $2.80 per common share, representing a yield of 4.3% based on Altria’s closing stock price of $64.59 on February

23, 2018.

Today’s dividend increase reflects Altria’s intention to return a large amount of cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and is consistent with Altria’s dividend payout ratio target of approximately 80% of its adjusted diluted earnings per share. Altria has increased its dividend 52 times in the past 49 years.

 Altria Group, Inc. is a holding company. Altria’s wholly-owned subsidiaries include Philip Morris USA Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company LLC, John Middleton Co., Nu Mark LLC, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Ltd. (Ste. Michelle) and Philip Morris Capital Corporation. Altria's tobacco brands include Marlboro, Black & Mild, Copenhagen, Skoal, MarkTen and Green Smoke. Altria also holds an equity investment in AB InBev, owning approximately 10.2% of the Belgium-based beer brewer.