Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.06

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 26th will be given a dividend of 1.06 per share on Friday, January 9th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 26th.

Altria Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 56 years. Altria Group has a payout ratio of 76.5% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. 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 $4.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 76.5%.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO traded up $0.15 on Thursday, reaching $58.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 968,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,795,002. Altria Group has a 52-week low of $50.08 and a 52-week high of $68.60. The company has a market cap of $98.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.76.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.31 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.89% and a negative return on equity of 319.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 target price on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Altria Group from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

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.