Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Up 0.6% on Analyst Upgrade

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shares rose 0.6% during trading on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $46.00. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Altria Group traded as high as $55.05 and last traded at $54.51. Approximately 2,478,301 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 9,844,079 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.19.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698,585 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after buying an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $91.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $51.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.70.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.