Cementing a decision reached by its board of directors last month, The Hartford (HIG +1.23%) has made its latest dividend boost official. The insurer has declared a quarterly stock dividend of $0.15 per share, to be paid on October 1 to shareholders of record as of September 3. That amount is exactly 50% higher than the company's preceding quarterly distributions of $0.10, which it had paid since April 2011.
The firm is a steady and reliable dividend payer. It has handed out regular quarterly disbursements since 1996.
The new dividend annualizes to $0.60 per share, yielding 1.9% at The Hartford's most recent closing stock price of $31.21.
