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

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

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $42.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $73.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.45.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.18 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 9.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently 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.