Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stock Price Down 1% – What’s Next?

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) dropped 1% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $59.34 and last traded at $59.42. Approximately 2,401,033 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 8,857,317 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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, Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.72. The company has a market capitalization of $96.72 billion, a PE ratio of 8.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. Equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,127,218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,972 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $91,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 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.