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

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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 Down 1.1 %

MO stock traded down $0.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $53.87. 10,985,628 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,907,085. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $54.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.29.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. 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 an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 70.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America reduced their price target 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 upped their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.