Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 0.4%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s stock price shot up 0.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $51.86 and last traded at $51.67. 1,433,065 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 10,472,294 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Argus upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two analysts have 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.08.

Altria Group Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.05. The company has a market capitalization of $90.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

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 business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.78%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 154.4% during the 1st quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.