Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stock Price Up 0.2%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s stock price traded up 0.2% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $53.47 and last traded at $53.35. 1,077,343 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 10,344,031 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.22.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.08.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.8 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $92.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $49.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.40.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.59%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% during the first quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.