Care to prognisticate on what this might convert to in $ and cents?
From the press release and some comments on the earnings call, here is what I think is happening and likely to occur going forward.
MO's earnings are likely to be lower in the next couple of quarters at least. While it is early, most of the inventory buildup and hoarding that benefited Q1, will likely reverse in Q2 & Q3. In addition, they will definitely get lower earnings & cash dividends from BUD. The big uncertainty is how deep US unemployment will go, and how long it will last. That in turn will likely determine how much down-trading to cheaper brands will occur, which is probably MO's biggest risk. Offsetting that somewhat is higher than typical unemployment benefits, the stimulus payments, and lower gasoline prices which should obviously help MO's customers.
Bottom line, I would expect that full year adjusted earnings for MO will likely still be similar to what they were in 2019 in the amount of $4.22 per share. Might be a few percentage points higher or lower, but not significantly so.
So as it relates to the dividend, I think it highly likely that MO will at least maintain their present annual payout of $3.36 per share. I would further expect that this fall, when they would normally do an increase, that they will at least do a nominal increase (say of a penny a quarter) to maintain their history of increases. I would not be surprised if they did something like a 5% increase, even if the earnings didn't grow by that amount, if the earnings outlook looked like it was stabilizing/improving.