Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $5.05-$5.17 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $5.08. Altria Group also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.050-5.170 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MO. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a sell rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a buy rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MO traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $43.38. The stock had a trading volume of 13,794,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,969,122. Altria Group has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $48.04. The company has a market capitalization of $74.51 billion, a PE ratio of 9.08, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.18 and its 200 day moving average is $41.47.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally 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.