Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $5.07-5.15 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $5.10. Altria Group also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.070-5.150 EPS.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Altria Group stock traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $53.87. 10,986,246 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,304,533. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.91 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.02. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.57%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.17.

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.