Why Altria, Spire And Realty Income Are Winners For Passive Income

Companies with a long history of paying dividends and consistently hiking them remain appealing to income-focused investors. Altria, Spire and Realty Income have rewarded their shareholders for several decades and recently announced dividend increases. Furthermore, these companies offer high dividend yields of around 4-7%.

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Altria

Altria Group, Inc. MO manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products, maintaining the leading position in cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in the U.S. and the number-two spot in machine-made cigars. The company's Marlboro brand is the leading cigarette brand in the U.S., with a 42% market share in 2023. 

According to the company’s most recent dividend announcement on August 22, its Board of Directors raised the quarterly dividend from $0.98 to $1.02 per share, equating to an annualized dividend rate of $4.08 per share. This marks the 59th dividend increase in the past 55 years.

The current yield on the dividend stands at 7.65%.

As of June 30, the company's annual revenue was $20.3 billion. According to its most recent earnings announcement on July 31, Altria generated Q2 2024 revenues of $6.21 billion, better than the consensus of $5.40 billion and an EPS of $1.31, slightly missing the consensus estimate of $1.34.

"Altria's momentum continues to build as we pursue our Vision to responsibly lead the transition of adult smokers to a smoke-free future," said Billy Gifford, Altria's Chief Executive Officer. "In the second quarter, our companies' innovative smoke-free products delivered strong share and volume performance and we hit meaningful milestones that we believe set us up for future success. NJOY received the first and only marketing granted orders from the FDA for menthol e-vapor products and we submitted PMTA applications to the FDA for next generation NJOY and on! products."

Check out this article by Benzinga, which highlights unusual options activity on Altria and notes that Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bullish stance on the stock.

Spire

Spire Inc. SR engages in the purchase, retail distribution and sale of natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and other end-users of natural gas in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Gas Utility, Gas Marketing and Midstream. 

The company has continuously paid a cash dividend since 1946 and 2024 marks the 21st consecutive year of increasing its common stock dividend on an annualized basis.

As per its most recent dividend hike announcement on November 13, 2023, its Board of Directors increased the quarterly dividend from $0.72 to $0.755 per share, or $3.02 annualized. 

Currently, the stock's dividend yield is 4.61%.

As of June 30, Spire’s annual revenue was $2.6 billion. According to the company's Q3 2024 earnings report, announced on July 31, it posted revenues of $414.10 million and EPS of ($0.14). Both figures came in above consensus estimates.

"Our results improved for the third quarter across all segments and we maintained strong operational performance," said Steve Lindsey, president and chief executive officer of Spire. "This quarter, we launched a customer affordability initiative expected to lower our overall costs and improve operational efficiency, with realized benefits anticipated in 2025 and 2026. We will see some uplift in the last three months of this fiscal year, but not enough to offset the impacts of lower than expected Spire Missouri margin and higher interest that we saw earlier this year. As a result, we are lowering our net economic earnings guidance for fiscal 2024 to $4.15–$4.25 per share. We remain confident in our ability to grow our business and serve our customers and communities with safe, reliable and affordable energy."

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Realty Income

Realty Income Corporation O owns roughly 15,400 properties, most of which are freestanding, single-tenant, triple-net-leased retail properties. Its properties are located in 49 states and Puerto Rico and are leased to 250 tenants from 47 industries. Recent acquisitions have added industrial, gaming, office, manufacturing and distribution properties, which make up roughly 20% of revenue.

Realty Income has raised its dividends every year for the last 29 years. According to the company's most recent dividend announcement on June 11, its Board of Directors raised the monthly dividend from $0.2625 to $0.2630 per share, or around $3.16 annualized.

Currently, the dividend yield stands at 5.14%.

As of June 30, the company's annual revenue stood at $4.7 billion. According to the company's most recent earnings announcement on August 5, it generated revenues of $1.34 billion and EPS of $1.06 in Q2 2024, above consensus estimates.

"I am pleased with the continued momentum and acceleration compared to the first quarter, as evidenced by AFFO per share growth of 6.0% compared to the same quarter in 2023," said Sumit Roy, Realty Income’s President and Chief Executive Officer. "Supporting our stable and growing cash flow stream, our liquidity position remains strong and our operations and portfolio of leading clients are healthy. Given these strengths, I am confident our global, diversified platform remains positioned to continue to deliver favorable risk-adjusted returns, given our current visibility into our future pipeline of opportunities."

Check out this article by Benzinga, which shows how to put $100 in your retirement fund each month with Realty Income stock.

Altria, Spire and Realty Income are solid options for investors seeking reliable passive income. Their offered yields of around 4-7% and their long history of consistent dividend hikes make them particularly attractive to income-focused investors.

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