Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading 0.4% Higher – Still a Buy?

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shares were up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $54.79 and last traded at $54.25. Approximately 1,118,350 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 9,798,856 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.0 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $51.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.90. The company has a market cap of $91.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.92%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.