Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a sell rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America raised their target price on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a hold rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $47.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 2.1 %

NYSE:MO traded up $1.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $51.07. The company had a trading volume of 12,662,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,285,990. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.97. Altria Group has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $51.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.14 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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.