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

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of 1.02 per share on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th.

Altria Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.4% per year 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 73.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Altria Group to earn $5.54 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 73.6%.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of MO traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $55.83. The stock had a trading volume of 9,820,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,596,938. The company has a market capitalization of $94.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $58.03. The company’s 50-day moving average is $52.73 and its 200 day moving average is $52.85.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. Research analysts forecast that Altria Group will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased 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. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

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.