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

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) had its target price increased by Barclays from $45.00 to $46.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $54.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $55.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $51.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.81.

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 company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.55%. 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. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.92%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 63.9% in the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.