Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target 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 restated a buy rating and issued a $50.00 price target 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 issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO traded up $0.62 on Thursday, hitting $43.54. 14,204,733 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,996,659. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically 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.