Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Up 1% – What’s Next?

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s share price rose 1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $60.07 and last traded at $60.05. Approximately 1,476,644 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 8,710,933 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on MO shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $101.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $58.05 and its 200-day moving average is $55.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.80%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,122,290,000 after purchasing an additional 18,471,846 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Altria Group by 40.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 111.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,606,000 after acquiring an additional 2,928,006 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.