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Few stocks have matched the dividend performance of tobacco giant Altria Group (NYSE: MO). For the past half-century, Altria has overcome huge obstacles to generate impressive returns for its investors, and although the shares have seen their price appreciate over that span, Altria's dividends have made the largest contribution to the stock's success over the long haul.

Those returns haven't come without effort, though, and Altria has worked hard to navigate the changing climate in tobacco and related industries. The company has recently made some major moves that could dramatically change its business, including its decision to take substantial stakes in e-cigarette maker JUUL Labs and cannabis company Cronos Group (NASDAQ: CRON). With Altria having spent that much cash, some shareholders fear that the tobacco giant won't want to continue giving investors higher dividend payments. Below, we'll consider that question more closely.

Dividend stats on Altria Group

Data source: Yahoo! Finance. Last increase refers to ex-dividend date. *Takes into account adjustments for spinoffs.

2018 was a great year for Altria's dividend

Altria made an unusual move with its dividend in 2018, giving shareholders not one but two separate increases. In the first quarter of the year, Altria made a modest increase of about 6%, taking the payout from $0.66 to $0.70 per share. Yet later, Altria made its more typical third-quarter dividend boost, with a big bump higher of 14% to push the quarterly dividend to $0.80 per share.

One key reason for the double-move was tax reform. The massive cut in corporate tax rates gave Altria an unexpected profit boost, and in line with its past practice, the tobacco company shared part of that windfall with its shareholders through dividends. As a result, the total dividend increase of 21% for the year was extraordinary -- and not something that investors should count on happening again.

Nevertheless, even with more typical once-annual increases, Altria has been good to dividend investors. Over the past decade, it's been common for Altria to deliver high single-digit percentage boosts to its quarterly payout.

MO Dividend data by YCharts.

Yet Altria isn't typically treated the same as other companies with similar dividend histories. That's mostly because Altria has broken itself up into multiple pieces on a couple of occasions. Having once incorporated the Kraft brand of food products under its corporate umbrella, Altria chose to spin off that business. Similarly, the spinoff of its international tobacco business into Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) left the surviving Altria holding only the company's U.S. operations.