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

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15, Yahoo Finance reports. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $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 Stock Performance

MO traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $42.83. 3,298,294 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,845,698. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $48.04. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.45.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.15%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MO. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management 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.