Altria Group Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:MO)

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 593,624 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,585% compared to the average volume of 35,224 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of MO opened at $53.47 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.20. Altria Group has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $58.03. The stock has a market cap of $90.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.63.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.63%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 46.4% in the second quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 2,762 shares during the period. Conning Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 2.3% in the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 9,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 11.0% during the second quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 12,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 22.8% in the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 72,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,291,000 after buying an additional 13,422 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Company Profile

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.