Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Up 0.6%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s share price was up 0.6% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $44.00 and last traded at $43.76. Approximately 1,888,605 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 11,731,590 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of 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 set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.9 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.49. The firm has a market cap of $75.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.15, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.93%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Altria Group announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Altria Group news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,084,000 after buying an additional 1,653,455 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after buying an additional 1,343,094 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 305,996.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $525,810,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.