Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Altria Group (NYSE:MO)

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 77,485 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 128% compared to the typical volume of 33,967 call options.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:MO traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $55.10. 3,259,233 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,188,808. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $52.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $58.03.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.40%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MO. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America upgraded 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 report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

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.