Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading 0.8% Higher After Dividend Announcement

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shares traded up 0.8% on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $56.09 and last traded at $55.52. 1,579,711 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 7,381,714 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.08.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $52.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 420.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. 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.