Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Hits Estimates

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) released its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15, Yahoo Finance reports. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Altria Group updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.050-5.170 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $5.05-$5.17 EPS.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $43.37 on Friday. Altria Group has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $48.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.18 and a 200-day moving average of $41.47. The company has a market capitalization of $74.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.07, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

About Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.