Altria Group Company Profile (NYSE:MO)

Altria Group trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "MO."

Altria Group announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share on Monday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 13th. View Altria Group's Dividend History.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July, 27th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.01. The company earned $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.02 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 55.99% and a return on equity of 76.43%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. View Altria Group's Earnings History.

Altria Group updated its FY17 earnings guidance on Tuesday, May, 2nd. The company provided EPS guidance of $3.26-3.32 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus EPS estimate of $3.29.

12 analysts have issued twelve-month price targets for Altria Group's stock. Their forecasts range from $62.00 to $79.00. On average, they anticipate Altria Group's share price to reach $72.08 in the next twelve months. View Analyst Ratings for Altria Group.

Here are some recent quotes from research analysts about Altria Group stock:

• 1. According to Zacks Investment Research, "Shares of Altria have underperformed the Zacks categorized industry in the last six months, mainly due to the declining demand of tobacco. The ongoing anti-tobacco campaigns and price rise to offset the rising taxes have been hurting the demand for tobacco. Moreover, consumers are opting for e-cigarettes or substitutes for cigarettes, in turn affecting the cigarette volume. These factors have hurt the company’s sales for the past few quarters, including the first quarter of 2017. Though Altria gains from strong cigarette pricing and its shift to low-risk, smokeless tobacco is encouraging, but the company continues to feel the pinch of declining cigarette volumes. Estimates have been stable ahead of the company’s second-quarter 2017 earnings release." (7/11/2017)
• 2. Royal Bank Of Canada analysts commented, "We are downgrading Altria to Underperform, as we see approximately 14% downside from current levels. We point out that shares are trading nearly in-line with Reynolds American on P/E and EV/EBITDA, despite RAI's pending acquisition by British American Tobacco. Looking forward over the next 18-24 months, we see a very low probability that Altria is acquired by PM International (which we see as the only likely acquirer)." (3/23/2017)
• 3. Jefferies Group LLC analysts commented, "We see a FY17 EPS of USD 3.29 (guidance USD 3.26-3.32; cons USD 3.30). While assumed growth of 8.8% is within the company long term growth algorithm (7%-9%), with risk of Marlboro share loss (in our view), ABI potentially not as supportive as expected, and the valuation currently inflated (pricing in potential tax benefits and/or a PMI bid), we see risk of de-rating. We increase our PT to USD 71 to reflect long term support from the Nat Sherman acquisition. Updating estimates: Our FY17 EPS estimate assumes growth of 8.8% which is the same as previously. While we now see greater operational performance (EBIT growth of 5.9% vs. 4.2%) due to greater assumed pricing and the Nat Sherman contribution, this is offset by a greater tax rate (at 36% vs. 35.4%) as guided by the company. We increase our PT by c3% to reflect long term share gains from the acquired Nat Sherman brand." (2/17/2017)
• 4. UBS AG analysts commented, "MO delivered a mostly uneventful quarter, as it underperformed modestly on fundamentals, but beat on EPS due to a lower-than-modeled tax rate. Specifically, MO delivered EPS of $0.68 (vs. UBSe/cons. of $0.66/$0.67), but only +0.1% in sales growth (vs. UBSe/cons. of +0.5% /+1.6%) and +4.0% in EBIT growth (vs. UBSe/cons. of +7.2%/+6.6%). Looking forward, from a tax perspective (potential future tax reform aside), MO anticipates a greater income tax rate in 2017 than we (and possibly consensus) had modeled (36% vs. 35%), therefore the midpoint of its $3.26-$3.33 guidance range ($3.29) fell slightly short of our $3.30 pre-release 2017 EPS estimate." (2/2/2017)

Some companies that are related to Altria Group include Nestle SA (NSRGY), Procter & Gamble Company (The) (PG), Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (BUD), Coca-Cola Company (The) (KO), Philip Morris International (PM), Pepsico (PEP), Unilever NV (UN), Unilever PLC (UL), LVMH-Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (LVMUY), British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BTI), LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMUY), L'Oreal SA (LRLCY), The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), Reynolds American (RAI), Ambev S.A. (ABEV), Diageo PLC (DEO), Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (RBGLY) and Mondelez International (MDLZ).

Altria Group's management team includes the folowing people:

• Martin J. Barrington, Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer
• William F. Gifford Jr., Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
• Clifford B. Fleet, President and Chief Executive Officer, Philip Morris USA Inc.
• Craig A. Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Altria Group Distribution Company
• Brian W. Quigley, President & Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company LLC
• Howard A. Willard III, Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President
• Denise F. Keane, Executive Vice President, General Counsel
• Charles N. Whitaker, Senior Vice President - Human Resources, Compliance & Information Services, Chief Compliance Officer
• Salvatore Mancuso, Senior Vice President - Strategy, Planning and Accounting
• Ivan S. Feldman, Vice President, Controller

Altria Group's stock is owned by a variety of of retail and institutional investors. Top institutional investors include Acadian Asset Management LLC (0.16%), APG Asset Management N.V. (0.15%), Vontobel Asset Management Inc. (0.15%), Great West Life Assurance Co. Can (0.13%), Independent Franchise Partners LLP (0.13%) and Bank of Montreal Can (0.11%). Company insiders that own Altria Group stock include Brian W Quigley, Charles N Whitaker, Dinyar S Devitre, George Munoz, James E Dillard III, Martin J Barrington and Nabil Y Sakkab. View Institutional Ownership Trends for Altria Group.

Altria Group's stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Vontobel Asset Management Inc., Russell Investments Group Ltd., Acadian Asset Management LLC, APG Asset Management N.V., NN Investment Partners Holdings N.V., Barometer Capital Management Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Company LTD and Cedar Wealth Management LLC. Company insiders that have sold Altria Group stock in the last year include Charles N Whitaker, Dinyar S Devitre, George Munoz, James E Dillard III and Martin J Barrington. View Insider Buying and Selling for Altria Group.

Altria Group's stock was bought by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Flossbach Von Storch AG, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, Boston Advisors LLC, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can, Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc., Bank of Montreal Can, Meag Munich Ergo Kapitalanlagegesellschaft MBH and Assenagon Asset Management S.A.. View Insider Buying and Selling for Altria Group.

Shares of Altria Group can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Scottrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

One share of Altria Group stock can currently be purchased for approximately $73.96.