Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stock Price Up 0.7%

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) rose 0.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $42.94 and last traded at $42.86. Approximately 2,551,136 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 11,728,869 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.8 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $73.70 billion, a PE ratio of 9.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.43.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4,665.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,907 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653,455 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 305,996.5% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $525,810,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.