Altria Group, Inc. (MO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.02 on January 10th

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 11th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a dividend of 1.02 per share on Friday, January 10th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th.

Altria Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 56 consecutive years. Altria Group has a payout ratio of 76.1% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Equities analysts expect Altria Group to earn $5.32 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 76.7%.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO opened at $53.58 on Tuesday. Altria Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03. The firm has a market cap of $90.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $54.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.15.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MO shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Company Profile

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.