Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Plans $1.02 Quarterly Dividend

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

Altria Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 56 consecutive years. Altria Group has a dividend payout ratio of 76.1% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. 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

MO stock opened at $53.58 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $54.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.15. The company has a market cap of $90.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.63. Altria Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lifted 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. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.33.

About Altria Group

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.