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

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15, Yahoo Finance reports. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. 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 Trading Down 0.4 %

MO stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $43.38. 13,794,252 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,969,122. The stock has a market cap of $74.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.47.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

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