Altria Group, Inc. (MO) will increase its quarterly dividend by 5.0 percent to $0.84 per common share in 2019. This marks the 50th consecutive year of annual dividend increases by the Dividend Aristocrat.

The next dividend is payable on October 10, 2019, to shareholders of record as of September 16, 2019. The ex-dividend date is September 13, 2019. The new annualized dividend rate of $3.36 per common share represents a yield of 7.3% based on Altria’s closing stock price of $46.25 on August 21, 2019.

“We are extremely proud of Altria’s fifty-year history of dividend growth,” said Howard Willard, Altria’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Over the past half century, Altria has demonstrated its steadfast commitment to rewarding shareholders despite numerous shifts in the tobacco landscape. Today, we remain focused on our shareholders as we lead the industry through a period of evolution.”

Altria Group, Inc. is a holding company incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1985. 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. 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 of 10.2% in brewer AnheuserBusch InBev, received in 2016 when the Belgian company acquired SABMiller in which Altria had an approximate 27% ownership. Altria previously owned Kraft Foods and Philip Morris International. Kraft Foods, Inc. spin-off was completed March 30, 2007 and Philip Morris International spin-off was completed March 28, 2008.