Last week, I discussed the potential upcoming dividend raise from cigarette giant Philip Morris (PM). With the company liking to please investors with a large payout from free cash flow, but the US dollar's weakness not yet enough to the point where results would significantly improve, I expected another modest raise from the company. On Wednesday, the company declared its latest dividend, which will likely make investors quite happy.
This year, investors were rewarded with a news release that detailed a three-cent increase to $1.07 per share. This is the largest raise since the six-cent bump we saw three years ago, after the US dollar's strength caused two years in a row of two-cent increases. In percentage terms, the increase was a little under 2.90%, and the dividend has now just about doubled since 2009 as seen in the chart below. The new payout gets the "2018" year because three of the four expected payments will come once the calendar turns.
