Moody's Corporation (MCO) will raise its quarterly dividend by 13.6 percent to $0.50 per share in the first quarter of 2019. Last year the dividend was raised by six cents to 44 cents per share quarterly. Moody's has now hiked its dividend for nine consecutive years.

The next dividend will be payable on March 18, 2019 to stockholders of record at the close of business on February 25, 2019. The new annualized dividend rate of $2.00 per share yields 1.2% at a stock price of $169.

Moody's Corp provides credit ratings, research, tools and analysis that contribute to transparent and integrated financial markets. Moody’s Corporation is the parent company of Moody's Investors Service, which provides credit ratings and research covering debt instruments and securities, and Moody's Analytics, which offers leading-edge software, advisory services and research for credit and economic analysis and financial risk management. The company went public in 1998 and has paid a dividend every year since 2000.