Altria‘s (NYSE: MO) the first installment payment of 2021 will be at $ 0.86 per share, the company’s board of directors has announced. It will be issued on January 11 to record investors as of December 28th.
The move will support Altria’s status as the preferred stock of stocks, especially since its yield (shadow below 8%) is quite high compared to the yield of other large companies. This is backed by a still-strong cash flow, even though the tobacco industry has been challenging over the past few years due to regulatory constraints and the growing trend of being more healthy all over the world.
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Another thing that stock investors like about Altria’s payouts is that it is very stable and reliable, especially considering these difficulties. The company has made sure it is released quarterly, a trend that stretches back for decades. Altria also picks it up every year, unless much is needed by many. The most recent hike was a 2% chunk announced in May.
At the same time, Altria is making a play for the future by investing in two segments that it believes have good potential. Marijuana is one of them, with an investment of $ 1.8 billion in it Cronos Group, and the other is in next-generation tobacco products such as Juul, which has a 35% share (the company also has exclusive US circulation rights for iQOS products from peers Philip Morris International).
It remains to be seen how these initiatives will go. Along with most of the marijuana industry, Cronos is struggling. And the value of Juul’s investment was written down sharply in Altria’s latest quarterly report. On the other hand, the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the latest iQOS device lays the foundation for strong sales in the US