Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $5.07-5.15 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $5.10. Altria Group also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.070-5.150 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.17.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Altria Group stock traded down $0.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $53.87. 10,986,246 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,304,533. The firm has a market cap of $91.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.10, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day moving average of $51.42 and a 200 day moving average of $48.43. Altria Group has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.