Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Bank of America

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) was upgraded by Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $65.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $55.00. Bank of America‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 13.40% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $57.32 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.51. The firm has a market cap of $97.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.63. Altria Group has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.