Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. Altria Group updated its FY24 guidance to $5.07-5.15 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 5.070-5.150 EPS.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock traded down $0.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $53.87. 10,985,628 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,907,085. Altria Group has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $54.95. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.29. The company has a market capitalization of $91.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.35, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 70.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group 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.