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

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) released its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO traded down $0.59 on Friday, hitting $53.87. 10,985,628 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,907,085. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $51.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.35, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $54.95.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MO. Bank of America reduced their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.17.

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.