Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Updates FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 5.050-5.170 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 5.080. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Altria Group also updated its FY24 guidance to $5.05-$5.17 EPS.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $43.54. 14,204,733 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,996,659. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $42.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.46. Altria Group has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The company has a market capitalization of $74.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.53, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut 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 Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.90.

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.