Before the opening bell on Friday morning, Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and full-year earnings. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for earnings per share (EPS) of $0.67 for the quarter and $2.57 for the year. Analysts are looking for quarterly revenues of $4.53 billion and full-year revenues of $17.88 billion.
The maker of Marlboro and other cigarette brands had a big year in 2014, with the stock price rising 30%, compared with a 12.4% rise in the S&P 500. Shares posted a 52-week high of $54.69 on January 22, and the price has more or less stayed right around $54 in the past week.
The company said in October that it expects to continue return cash to shareholders by maintaining a dividend payout ratio target of about 80% of adjusted diluted EPS. Altria’s current quarterly dividend $0.52 a share was announced last August, and if the company meets the quarterly EPS estimate that dividend payment is in no danger.
Altria’s dividend yield of 3.8% has dropped from 4.4% the end of the third quarter as the share price has risen. The total return on investment since the end of the prior quarter has been more than 18% though, and that is hard to beat.
One slight downside might be that EPS growth has been stagnant in the past two quarters, and if the fourth quarter comes in on target that will make three quarters in a row of no profit growth.
The company’s forward price-to-earnings ratio currently stands at 19.28, and the price-to-book ratio is 24.86. The 50-day moving average is $51.17, and the 200-day moving average is $46.78.
Revenues have been hampered by lower shipment volumes, which the company has been able to offset with higher prices. That cannot last forever, as the saying goes.
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Analysts at Wells Fargo Securities recently raised their rating on the stock from Market Perform to Outperform.
Altria’s stock traded down less than 0.1% early Thursday afternoon, at $53.97 in a 52-week range of $33.80 to $55.18. The consensus price target on the shares is $52.63. The company’s market cap is $106.7 billion.
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