Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Meets Estimates

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15, Yahoo Finance reports. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. 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 Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $43.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $74.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.07, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $42.18 and its 200 day moving average is $41.47. Altria Group has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $48.04.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MO shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective 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 given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.