Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 1.2% – Should You Buy?

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) rose 1.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $49.65 and last traded at $49.63. Approximately 1,198,016 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 9,893,822 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MO. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $85.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.51 and a 200 day moving average of $47.88.

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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.20%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 85.36%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MO. CWM LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after buying an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT raised its holdings in Altria Group by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 911 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,960,000 after buying an additional 16,541 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,476,000 after acquiring an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.