Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading 0.3% Higher

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shares traded up 0.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $45.17 and last traded at $44.93. 1,951,750 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 11,105,612 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.80.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price 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 report on Thursday. Argus upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.57%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,279,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,701,000 after acquiring an additional 242,442 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 8.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,174,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,278,000 after acquiring an additional 722,258 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 7.6% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 4,762,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,281,000 after acquiring an additional 337,548 shares during the last quarter. 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.