13 Cheap High Dividend Stocks To Invest In Now

2. Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 32

Dividend Yield as of February 17: 7.66%

P/E Ratio: 8.20

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO), an American tobacco giant, ranks 2nd on our list of the best dividend stocks, with a dividend yield of 7.66% as of February 17. American bank holding company, Truist Financial Corp, raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 27.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024, purchasing an extra 523,146 shares. This brings their total holdings to 2,418,074 shares, which are now worth about $126.4 million, according to the latest SEC filing.

In 2024, Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) returned over $10.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. The company paid out $6.8 billion in dividends, and in August, the board increased the dividend by 4.1%, marking the 59th increase in the last 55 years. MO also completed its share repurchase program, buying back 73.5 million shares for $3.4 billion, which was the biggest repurchase in over 20 years. These buybacks were funded by proceeds from selling part of its investment in Anheuser-Busch InBev.

According to Insider Monkey’s third-quarter database, 32 hedge funds were long Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO), compared to 36 funds in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital was the biggest position holder in the company, with 22.2 million shares valued at $1.13 billion.