Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stock Price Up 0.7%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) traded up 0.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $42.94 and last traded at $42.86. 2,551,136 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 11,728,869 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.8 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.18 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.14%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 11,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 48.8% in the 3rd quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 2,964 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 666.7% in the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $213,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.