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

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15, Yahoo Finance reports. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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 Price Performance

NYSE MO traded up $0.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $43.21. 5,501,379 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,875,061. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.45. Altria Group has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $48.04. The firm has a market cap of $74.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.07%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management 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.