Altria hikes dividend by 2.4%
Tobacco company Altria Group, Inc. (MO) will increase its quarterly dividend by 2.4 percent to 86 cents per share in 2020. This comes after a 5.0 percent dividend hike to $0.84 per common share in 2019 and marks the 51st consecutive year of annual dividend increases by the Dividend Aristocrat. The next dividend will be paid on October 9, 2020 to shareholders of record on September 15, 2020. The ex-dividend date is September 14, 2020. The new annualized dividend rate of $3.44 per common share represents a yield of 8.1% based on Altria’s closing stock price of $42.52 on July 28, 2020. From the company's press release: “We’re pleased to announce that yesterday, our Board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.86 per share, representing a new annualized dividend rate of $3.44 per share and an increase of 2.4% from the previous annualized rate of $3.36 per share. This dividend increase marks the 55th dividend increase in the past 51 years,” said Sal Mancuso, Altria’s Chief Financial Of