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

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15, Yahoo Finance reports. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue 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 Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE MO opened at $43.54 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $74.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $48.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.12 and its 200 day moving average is $41.46.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.00%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MO. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.