Analysts Set Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Price Target at $48.20

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.17.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MO. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after acquiring an additional 243,201 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,655,000 after acquiring an additional 215,594 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $53.87 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.42 and a 200-day moving average of $48.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.91 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group has a 12 month low of $39.25 and a 12 month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Altria Group will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.57%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.