Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 6.5% – Here’s Why

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shot up 6.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $54.06 and last traded at $53.77. 7,747,256 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 9,817,551 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America cut their price target 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. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $92.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.25.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. 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 prior year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.49%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MO. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,754,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,772,000 after buying an additional 54,096 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,824,000 after buying an additional 2,471 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 56.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 32,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after buying an additional 11,779 shares during the period. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $467,000 after buying an additional 689 shares during the period. Finally, Everett Harris & Co. CA increased its holdings in Altria Group by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 16,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 966 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.