Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 0.8% – Still a Buy?

by · The Markets Daily

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO – Get Free Report)’s share price shot up 0.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $54.38 and last traded at $54.35. 874,713 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 9,778,618 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays boosted their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Get Our Latest Analysis on MO

Altria Group Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $93.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $51.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.09.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.36%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.92%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,935,224,000 after purchasing an additional 589,832 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after acquiring an additional 243,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its position in Altria Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after purchasing an additional 215,594 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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