Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 1.1%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shares shot up 1.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $54.36 and last traded at $54.35. 1,499,963 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 10,303,256 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.77.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MO. 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 boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.58.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.8 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $49.81 and its 200-day moving average is $45.83. The company has a market capitalization of $93.22 billion, a PE ratio of 11.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.1 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.52%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Albion Financial Group UT raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 49.1% during the first quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,960,000 after acquiring an additional 16,541 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 57,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,304,000 after acquiring an additional 11,111 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at about $556,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.