Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Up 0.8% – What’s Next?

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MO. Citigroup upped their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.97. The company has a market capitalization of $92.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.18, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.49%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 85.1% during the third quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. 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.