Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Issues Earnings Results

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15, Yahoo Finance reports. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. 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 Stock Down 0.4 %

MO opened at $43.37 on Friday. Altria Group has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.47. The company has a market cap of $74.49 billion, a PE ratio of 9.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment 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 MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.