Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MO. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $43.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $48.04. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.46.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.04%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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

Altria Group Company Profile

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.