Altria vs. Coca-Cola: Which Dividend Stock Looks Better for Reliable Income?​

You would be hard-pressed to find two more consistent dividend stocks than Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and Altria Group (NYSE: MO). Both are Dividend Kings, S&P 500 companies that have increased their dividends annually for 50 or more years in a row.

There are only 56 of them, by the most recent count, so Dividend Kings make up just a tiny percent of the universe of stocks.

Coca-Cola, the world's largest beverage seller, has boosted its dividend for 63 straight years, while Altria, the largest tobacco company in the U.S., has raised its dividend for 56 consecutive years.

Image source: Getty Images.

Which of these two Dividend Kings looks better for reliable income? Let's take a look.

Altria has a much higher yield

When examining dividend stocks, one of the first things to look at, beyond consistency, is the payout -- or yield. The yield is the percentage of the stock price that goes to the dividend so it determines how much dividend you get for your buck.

For Coca-Cola, the current yield is about 2.9%, which is pretty solid -- almost 3 times as much as the 1.13% average yield on the S&P 500. It is also roughly in the historical range for Coca-Cola over the past 10 years, when it has averaged about a 3.1% yield. Those are pretty sweet numbers for the soda and juice company.

Altria, the massive tobacco seller, has a huge dividend yield of around 6.87%, one of the highest you'll find on the market. So that means, if you invested the same amount in both -- $100 in each, for example -- the dividend payout for Altria next quarter would be more than twice as high.

That would almost seem like a no-brainer that Altria is the better dividend stock. But is it?

Coca-Cola is the more reliable option

While yield is extremely important, if you are a long-term investor, you want a dividend you can trust to be reliable for years to come. Of the two stocks, Coca-Cola looks like the more reliable option.

One of the metrics to consider when assessing dividend stocks is the payout ratio, which is the percentage of earnings that go to the dividend. With these two companies, the payout ratio is high -- at 67% for Coca-Cola and 75% for Altria. Ideally, a good dividend stock has a payout ratio below 60%, or, better still, in the 30% to 50% range. Both Altria and Coca-Cola may be stretching a bit to keep that feeding that dividend.

But Coca-Cola looks better positioned to maintain its dividend, as it has been steadily growing earnings and revenue over the past several years. Meanwhile, Altria has seen its revenue fall of a cliff over the past five years, falling from about $26 billion after Q3 2020 to around $23.4 billion in Q3 2025.

Both companies report their earnings in the coming weeks, so investors should stay tuned for what the outlook for 2026 is. Altria is scheduled to reports its fourth-quarter results on Jan. 29, while Coca-Cola is expected to report earnings on Feb. 10.

Right now, despite its lower yield, Coca-Cola looks like the more reliable income and dividend generator. Also, Coca-Cola's stock price has higher upside, ranked a consensus buy among analysts with a price target that indicates 13% growth.

Dave Kovaleski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.