Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 0.2% on Analyst Upgrade

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) traded up 0.2% on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $46.00 to $49.00. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Altria Group traded as high as $59.16 and last traded at $59.24. 2,094,491 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 8,770,565 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.15.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MO. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MO. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.6% in the first quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. now owns 280,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,813,000 after buying an additional 9,621 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth $210,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 111.3% during the 1st quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 21,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,269,000 after acquiring an additional 11,135 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners raised its holdings in Altria Group by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 9,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares during the period. Finally, Graypoint LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 6.1% during the first quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 14,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.85. The firm has a market cap of $100.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.85%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

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.