Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Issues FY24 Earnings Guidance

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

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $43.54. 14,204,733 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,996,659. The company has a market cap of $74.79 billion, a PE ratio of 9.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.46. Altria Group has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $48.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.00%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.