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

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 28th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors 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 is Tuesday, March 25th.

Altria Group has raised its dividend 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. Equities research 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 %

Altria Group stock traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $55.83. 9,814,341 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,592,062. 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 $94.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.52, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $52.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.85.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.