Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Analysts at Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Altria Group (NYSE:MO) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 4.02% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.43.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO opened at $51.92 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $54.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.91. Altria Group has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $58.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.99 billion, a PE ratio of 8.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company 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 earned $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Altria Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,935,224,000 after acquiring an additional 589,832 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Altria Group by 1.6% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 25.0% during the second 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 in 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.