Altria's High Dividend Really Is Too Good to Be True
Tobacco company Altria Group (NYSE: MO) is more pedigreed than dividend investors have a right to expect. Last year's increased payout to an annualized payment of $3.44 per share marks the 51st consecutive year the company has not only paid a dividend, but also raised it. Better still, Altria can afford to make these payments. The company earned $4.22 per share in 2020, up 6% from 2019, extending a steady streak of operating income and revenue growth. Perhaps best of all, the current payout translates into a yield of 6.9% at Monday morning's prices, one of the very best yields among the market's blue-chip stocks. All in all, that's not too shabby.
It would be short-sighted, however, to not recognize Altria will forevermore face an uphill battle. And that battle just got tougher. Something's got to give sooner or later, and the dividend is on the potential hit list.
There's the Altria you probably know. The one behind the Marlboro brand of cigarettes and parent to Philip Morris USA. It's also the maker of smokeless tobacco products sold under the Copenhagen and Skoal labels.
Source Fool.com
