Altria Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company provides cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; cigars and pipe tobacco principally under the Black & Mild brand; and moist smokeless tobacco products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands, as well as provides on! oral nicotine pouches. It sells its tobacco products primarily to wholesalers, including distributors; and large retail organizations, such as chain stores. Altria Group, Inc. was founded in 1822 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cowen cut their price target on Altria Group from $56.00 to $45.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Altria Group from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Friday, June 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Altria Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Altria Group from $60.00 to $46.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 1st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $47.00.
Altria Group Price Performance
MO Stock opened at $45.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.27 billion, a PE ratio of 46.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.62. The company's 50-day moving average is $44.57 and its 200-day moving average is $49.84. Altria Group has a 1 year low of $41.00 and a 1 year high of $57.05.
Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 6.88% and a negative return on equity of 488.86%. The business had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 4.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Altria Group Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 15th were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 14th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.98%. Altria Group's payout ratio is currently 371.13%.