Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Up 0.6%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s stock price shot up 0.6% on Friday . The company traded as high as $52.16 and last traded at $52.13. 1,726,726 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 10,426,289 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Altria Group Trading Up 1.0 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $48.37 and a 200 day moving average of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $89.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.94, a P/E/G 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MO. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 154.4% during the first quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the first quarter valued at about $29,000. 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.