Altria Group, Inc. (MO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.02 on July 10th

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of 1.02 per share on Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th.

Altria Group has a payout ratio of 73.6% indicating that 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 Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:MO opened at $59.74 on Friday. Altria Group has a 12 month low of $43.83 and a 12 month high of $61.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $58.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.11. The firm has a market cap of $100.64 billion, a PE ratio of 9.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Altria Group stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 64.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,702 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,954 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

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.