Altria Group lifted its quarterly dividend to $1.11 per share from $1.06, the company's 60th dividend increase in 56 years, putting the annualized forward rate at $4.44 per share against a share price of $68.98 for a yield near 6.16%. The payout is rising even as reported full-year domestic cigarette shipment volumes fell 10.0% and Marlboro's retail share slipped to 39.7%. Pricing power is carrying the model: smokeable adjusted operating company income margin expanded to 65.1%, with smokeable adjusted OCI up 6.3% to $2.68 billion, as Marlboro's retail price ran up about 7% versus a comparable quarter and smokable price realization came in at 4.5%. The board also doubled its repurchase authorization to $2 billion, and $8 billion was returned to shareholders through dividends and buybacks combined in a single fiscal year. The smoke-free pivot stumbled, with on! nicotine pouch shipment volumes up 17.6% but its category share falling 4.2 points to 13.4%, while NJOY ACE will not return due to an ITC exclusion order and a $1.30 billion non-cash impairment hit the e-vapor unit. Management targets mid-single digit annual dividend per share growth and guides adjusted EPS to $5.56 to $5.72 off a base of $5.42.
Altria GroupAltria raised its quarterly dividend to $1.11/share and doubled its buyback authorization to $2 billion, returning $8 billion to shareholders.
