Horace Mann Educators (HMN) will raise its quarterly dividend by 0.9 percent to $0.2875 per share in the first quarter of 2019. The new dividend yield for HMN is 2.6% and this marks the 10th consecutive year of dividend increases by the company.

The next dividend is payable on March 29, 2019 to shareholders of record as of March 18, 2019. A new annual dividend rate of $1.15 per share yields 3.0% at the current stock price.

“Our ability to raise the dividend for the 11(th) consecutive year is a testament to Horace Mann’s financial strength,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Marita Zuraitis. “We are balancing our commitment to creating long-term shareholder value with the need for maximum capital flexibility for our pending acquisition of National Teachers Associates (NTA), which is anticipated to close in mid-2019. We are excited about the potential for accelerated shareholder value creation as a result of this transaction.”

Horace Mann Educators Corporation is an insurance holding company.  Through its subsidiaries, the company markets and underwrites personal lines of property and casualty insurance, primarily automobile and property coverages supplemental insurance, primarily heart, cancer, accident and limited short-term supplemental disability coverages, retirement products, primarily tax-qualified annuities and life insurance, primarily whole life, term and indexed universal life (IUL). Founded by Educators for Educators, the company's business began in Springfield, Illinois in 1945 when two school teachers started selling automobile insurance to other teachers within Illinois.