Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Down 0.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) traded down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $49.33 and last traded at $49.65. 1,004,549 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 10,019,254 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.5 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.68. The stock has a market cap of $86.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.14%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 5.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after purchasing an additional 243,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Altria Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after purchasing an additional 215,594 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

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.