Altria quarterly dividend declared

Altria said on Friday that its board of directors had voted to increase the company’s regular quarterly dividend by 9.1 percent from $0.44 to $0.48 per common share.

The dividend is payable on Oct. 10 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 16. The ex-dividend date is Sept. 12, 2013.

The new annualized dividend rate is $1.92 per common share, representing a yield of 5.7 percent based on Altria’s closing stock price of $33.56 on Aug. 22.

“Today’s dividend increase reflects Altria’s intention to return a large amount of cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and is consistent with Altria’s dividend payout ratio target of approximately 80 percent of its adjusted diluted earnings per share,” according to a note posted on Altria’s website. “Altria has increased its dividend 47 times in the last 44 years.

“Additionally, Altria announced that its board of directors authorized a $700 million expansion of Altria’s current April 2013 share repurchase program, from $300 million to $1 billion. Altria expects to complete the program by the end of the third quarter of 2014. The timing of share repurchases depends upon marketplace conditions and other factors. The program remains subject to the discretion of Altria’s board of directors.”