Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stock Price Up 0.1%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s stock price traded up 0.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $43.40 and last traded at $43.30. 1,446,061 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 11,731,130 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $36.10 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.82.

Altria Group Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.99 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.98%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

Altria Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 21,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $987,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Corrigan Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 4.7% in the second quarter. Corrigan Financial Inc. now owns 5,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 5,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Finally, Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Taylor & Morgan Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.