Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 0.1%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shot up 0.1% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $51.47 and last traded at $51.38. 1,534,385 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 10,492,712 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.32.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America increased their target price on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.08.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.0 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $48.25 and a 200-day moving average of $44.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors raised 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 worth $535,701,000 after purchasing an additional 242,442 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Altria Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,793,000 after buying an additional 191,236 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after acquiring an additional 243,201 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

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.