Better Dividend Stock: Altria Group or Reynolds American?

Smoking isn't cool, but dividends are. Image source: iStock/Thinkstock.

Even though investors may not endorse the business models of Altria Group and Reynolds American , two of the world's leading cigarette manufacturers, it's hard to argue with their generous dividend payouts.

If we limit our look to the three most important dividend metrics, as I do in the brief slideshow below, we find that:

Shares of both Altria Group and Reynolds American have attractive dividend yields, ranging from 3% to 3.74%.
Although the two companies have manageable payout ratios, from 46% to 78%, one's is clearly better than the other's.
Finally, both Altria Group and Reynolds American have histories of increasing the size of their quarterly distributions.

Yet, if one were to weigh these stocks based equally off of these three metrics, then Reynolds American takes the cake. To see why, simply scroll through the brief slideshow below.

All data in the slideshow was sourced from YCharts.com on Nov. 17, 2015. Slideshow image source: iStock/Thinkstock.

The article Better Dividend Stock: Altria Group or Reynolds American? originally appeared on Fool.com.

John Maxfield has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.