Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) fell 0.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $40.72 and last traded at $40.75. 10,407,370 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 12,885,098 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.4 %

The company has a market cap of $70.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average of $41.87 and a 200 day moving average of $41.42.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the third quarter valued at about $3,128,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 293.6% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 41,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,727,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

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.