Altria Group, Inc. (MO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.98 on April 30th

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 29th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.98 per share on Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd.

Altria Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 55 consecutive years. Altria Group has a payout ratio of 74.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Altria Group to earn $5.29 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 74.1%.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $44.62 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.53. Altria Group has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $48.04. The company has a market capitalization of $78.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.08 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 108,222.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,763,000 after purchasing an additional 18,573,146 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 84.1% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,426,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,823,000 after acquiring an additional 2,478,576 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Altria Group by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,233,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $493,497,000 after acquiring an additional 2,436,172 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,302,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,896,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,178,596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Altria Group by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $781,883,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531,337 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.94% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MO. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $36.10 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.22.

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.