Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $46.90.

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $45.56 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $45.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.74. Altria Group has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $47.19. The firm has a market cap of $78.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.60%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter valued at about $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 293.6% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 41,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Altria Group by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,727,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789 shares during 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.