Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Upgraded at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group (NYSE:MO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Bank of America currently has $65.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $55.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $57.32 on Friday. Altria Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $53.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.41. The stock has a market cap of $97.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.63.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The company’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 420.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% in the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.