Top 5 Dividend Kings of 2021 (Part III)

1. Altria Group Inc (NYSE: MO)

Dividend Yield: 8.09%

Topping the list of 30 dividend kings of 2021 is Altria, one of the biggest cigarette and tobacco products companies in the world. The company is behind the famous Marlboro brand. It also owns stakes in ABInBev and e-cigarette maker JUUL Labs. Altria has increased its dividend consistently over the last 51 years. In January 2021, Altria said its smokeable product volume was up 3.3% in the fourth quarter, crushing past the estimates of -2.1%.

Hedge funds are also showing interest in Altria. At the end of the third quarter, 47 hedge funds were long MO shares, down from 43 funds a quarter earlier.

Artko Capital said the following about Altria in their Q2 Investor Letter:

“Altria Group (MO) – We made an 9% Core Portfolio investment in Altria group at sub $40.00 in 2019 with the view that it was a good place to park cash at an 8%+ dividend yield with liquidity and a 15- 25% annual IRR upside. When the stock reached $50+ in early 2020 we took half of our position off the table and took the rest off back at $40 in the spring 2020 as we are positioning our portfolio to have significantly higher upside in the nanocap space as the economy and the small cap markets recover over the next few years. We may come back to MO in the future as it is a solid dividend yielding investment, but as we mentioned earlier, our strategy does involve off-the-beaten-path companies with an opportunity to get repriced on growth of revenues and earnings and Altria Group’s low growth was not going to get us the returns we seek given the repricing of the value segment of the small cap markets.”

You can also read Top 10 Sin Stocks to Buy Now and 15 Biggest Outsourcing Companies In The World.

You can also go to 30 Dividend Kings of 2021 (Part I).

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