Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stock Price Down 0.7% – Should You Sell?

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s share price traded down 0.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $48.86 and last traded at $49.39. 1,923,155 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 9,935,194 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.74.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MO. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. 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. Barclays upped their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $85.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.79.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.22%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 85.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Altria Group by 120.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after buying an additional 243,201 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after buying an additional 215,594 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is 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.