Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $5.05-$5.17 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $5.08. Altria Group also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.050-5.170 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a sell rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a buy rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MO opened at $42.92 on Thursday. Altria Group has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $48.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $42.05 and its 200-day moving average is $41.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.72 billion, a PE ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Altria Group will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.13%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.