Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Up 0.7%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s share price was up 0.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $49.75 and last traded at $49.72. Approximately 1,317,129 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 10,833,766 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.39.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MO shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.10.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.3 %

The company has a market cap of $84.61 billion, a PE ratio of 10.40, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50-day moving average of $46.07 and a 200-day moving average of $43.28.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.96%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of Altria Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,279,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,701,000 after buying an additional 242,442 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after buying an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,681,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,870,000 after buying an additional 617,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,674,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,567,000 after buying an additional 915,478 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.