Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group (NYSE:MO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Sunday morning.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a sell rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO opened at $40.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $69.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $48.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.83 and its 200-day moving average is $41.43.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Altria Group will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.62%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,271,000 after acquiring an additional 840,559 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,856,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,596,257,000 after acquiring an additional 671,929 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,517,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $990,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,192,266 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 108,222.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,763,000 after acquiring an additional 18,573,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,105,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,883,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531,337 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently 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.