Lorillard declares quarterly dividend increase

Lorillard’s board of directors has declared a seven percent increase in the quarterly dividend on its common stock from $0.615 per share to $0.66 per share.

The dividend is payable on March 10 to stockholders of record as of March 2.

The company said this was the seventh dividend increase since Lorillard became an independent publicly traded company in June 2008.

“We are very pleased to continue our policy of periodically increasing our dividend in line with our earnings growth,” said executive vice president and CFO David H. Taylor.

“This dividend increase is consistent with our targeted dividend payout ratio of 70-75 percent of earnings as well as the terms of our merger agreement with Reynolds American permitting the continuation of our historical dividend practices.”