Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Price Target Raised to $54.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) had its target price lifted by Stifel Nicolaus from $50.00 to $54.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

MO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a sell rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Argus raised Altria Group to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $47.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO traded down $1.85 during trading on Thursday, reaching $49.22. 8,418,223 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,729,978. Altria Group has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $51.40. The firm has a market cap of $84.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.02.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. Altria Group’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Research analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Altria Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,279,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,701,000 after acquiring an additional 242,442 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew 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 worth $230,510,000 after purchasing an additional 243,201 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,681,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,870,000 after purchasing an additional 617,900 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,754,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,772,000 after acquiring an additional 54,096 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.