Altria Group (NYSE:MO) PT Raised to $45.00

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Barclays from $43.00 to $45.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s price target suggests a potential downside of 16.79% from the stock’s current price.

MO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $54.08 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.24. The company has a market cap of $92.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% in the first 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 103.9% in the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 1,803,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,742,000 after acquiring an additional 919,058 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 131.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,418,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,211,000 after purchasing an additional 805,051 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Altria Group by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. 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.