Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 0.5% After Analyst Upgrade

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s share price shot up 0.5% during trading on Monday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $36.10 to $36.50. UBS Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. Altria Group traded as high as $42.03 and last traded at $41.87. 2,004,452 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 11,729,483 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.65.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 108,222.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $849,763,000 after purchasing an additional 18,573,146 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4,665.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,241,000 after buying an additional 3,888,907 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 84.1% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,426,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $245,823,000 after buying an additional 2,478,576 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,233,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $493,497,000 after buying an additional 2,436,172 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,302,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,896,798,000 after buying an additional 2,178,596 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.22, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. Research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.31%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.