Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stock Price Up 0.3%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s share price shot up 0.3% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $51.37 and last traded at $51.23. 777,866 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 10,200,028 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.09.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $87.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.04.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.99%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% during the first quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. BNP Paribas purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth $29,000. 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.