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Altria Hikes Divident by 14.3%, Boosts Shareholders' Value
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Despite lower cigarette volume denting overall revenues, Altria Group, Inc. (MO - Free Report) is focused on boosting investors’ sentiments, through strategic growth initiatives as well as shareholder-friendly moves. To this end, the company recently unveiled intentions to increase quarterly dividend rates.
The newly raised quarterly dividend of 80 cents per share reflects growth of 14.3% from the previous rate of 70 cents. The hiked dividend is payable on Oct 10, 2018 to shareholders held in record as of Sep 14, 2018. As a result, the company’s annualized dividend rate is pegged at $3.20.
Well, Altria has been committed toward enhancing shareholder returns through dividends. Impressively, the company has raised dividend rates 53 times in the past 49 years. Further, management is on track to maintain a payout ratio of 80% of the bottom line. In fact, in the second quarter of 2018, Altria paid dividends worth $1.3 billion.
Apart from issuing dividends, Altria also indulges in share buybacks to augment shareholders’ wealth. During the second quarter, the company repurchased 7.6 million shares for approximately $437 million. Also, in May 2018, management expanded the existing share repurchase program by an additional $1 billion. As of Jun 30, 2018, Altria had around $1 billion under the share repurchase program, which is expected to be completed by end of second-quarter 2019.
Well, a sturdy bottom-line performance has been lucrative in engaging in such frequent shareholder-friendly moves. Altria has been delivering year-over-year bottom-line growth for quite some time, retaining this trend in second-quarter 2018. During the quarter, earnings marked its fourth consecutive beat and improved 18.8% year over year. This was backed by lower outstanding shares and reduced adjusted tax rate. Further, driven by the company’s strong results in the first half of 2018, management raised the lower end of earnings guidance.
Although the bottom-line picture has been favorable, the company’s top line has been struggling due to declining cigarette shipment volumes. This has been marring the performance of the smokeable product category which has been weighing on total revenues. Well, cigarette sales have been sluggish due to consumers’ avoidance of harmful tobacco products as well as strict FDA regulations. Apart from Altria, the impacts of tobacco industry headwinds have also been denting the performance of companies like Philip Morris (PM - Free Report) , British American Tobacco (BTI - Free Report) and Vector Group (VGR - Free Report) .
Despite the hurdles, Altria has not turned away from raising shareholders’ value, buoyed by strategic efforts to maintain profitability. In this respect, the company’s effective pricing strategies are noteworthy. In second-quarter 2018, higher pricing drove a rise in adjusted operating companies income (OCI) in the smokeable and smokeless segments. Additionally, the company has been expanding its presence in the RRPs category. Indeed, such well-chalked efforts have helped this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company to stay afloat amid a changing industry landscape. Well, shares of Altria rose 7.5% in the past three months compared with the industry’s 3.7% increase. Going ahead. we expect such factors to continue boosting investors optimism in the stock.
Zacks names 5 companies poised to ride a medical breakthrough that is targeting cures for leukemia, AIDS, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, and other conditions.
New products in this field are already generating substantial revenue and even more wondrous treatments are in the pipeline. Early investors could realize exceptional profits.
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Altria Hikes Divident by 14.3%, Boosts Shareholders' Value
Despite lower cigarette volume denting overall revenues, Altria Group, Inc. (MO - Free Report) is focused on boosting investors’ sentiments, through strategic growth initiatives as well as shareholder-friendly moves. To this end, the company recently unveiled intentions to increase quarterly dividend rates.
The newly raised quarterly dividend of 80 cents per share reflects growth of 14.3% from the previous rate of 70 cents. The hiked dividend is payable on Oct 10, 2018 to shareholders held in record as of Sep 14, 2018. As a result, the company’s annualized dividend rate is pegged at $3.20.
Well, Altria has been committed toward enhancing shareholder returns through dividends. Impressively, the company has raised dividend rates 53 times in the past 49 years. Further, management is on track to maintain a payout ratio of 80% of the bottom line. In fact, in the second quarter of 2018, Altria paid dividends worth $1.3 billion.
Apart from issuing dividends, Altria also indulges in share buybacks to augment shareholders’ wealth. During the second quarter, the company repurchased 7.6 million shares for approximately $437 million. Also, in May 2018, management expanded the existing share repurchase program by an additional $1 billion. As of Jun 30, 2018, Altria had around $1 billion under the share repurchase program, which is expected to be completed by end of second-quarter 2019.
Well, a sturdy bottom-line performance has been lucrative in engaging in such frequent shareholder-friendly moves. Altria has been delivering year-over-year bottom-line growth for quite some time, retaining this trend in second-quarter 2018. During the quarter, earnings marked its fourth consecutive beat and improved 18.8% year over year. This was backed by lower outstanding shares and reduced adjusted tax rate. Further, driven by the company’s strong results in the first half of 2018, management raised the lower end of earnings guidance.
Although the bottom-line picture has been favorable, the company’s top line has been struggling due to declining cigarette shipment volumes. This has been marring the performance of the smokeable product category which has been weighing on total revenues. Well, cigarette sales have been sluggish due to consumers’ avoidance of harmful tobacco products as well as strict FDA regulations. Apart from Altria, the impacts of tobacco industry headwinds have also been denting the performance of companies like Philip Morris (PM - Free Report) , British American Tobacco (BTI - Free Report) and Vector Group (VGR - Free Report) .
Despite the hurdles, Altria has not turned away from raising shareholders’ value, buoyed by strategic efforts to maintain profitability. In this respect, the company’s effective pricing strategies are noteworthy. In second-quarter 2018, higher pricing drove a rise in adjusted operating companies income (OCI) in the smokeable and smokeless segments. Additionally, the company has been expanding its presence in the RRPs category. Indeed, such well-chalked efforts have helped this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company to stay afloat amid a changing industry landscape. Well, shares of Altria rose 7.5% in the past three months compared with the industry’s 3.7% increase. Going ahead. we expect such factors to continue boosting investors optimism in the stock.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
5 Medical Stocks to Buy Now
Zacks names 5 companies poised to ride a medical breakthrough that is targeting cures for leukemia, AIDS, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, and other conditions.
New products in this field are already generating substantial revenue and even more wondrous treatments are in the pipeline. Early investors could realize exceptional profits.
Click here to see the 5 stocks >>