Barclays Boosts Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Price Target to $46.00

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Barclays from $45.00 to $46.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s price objective suggests a potential downside of 14.08% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.4 %

MO stock opened at $53.54 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $51.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $55.05.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Altria Group will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in Altria Group during the second quarter valued at $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.