Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $46.00. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Altria Group traded as high as $54.96 and last traded at $54.96, with a volume of 311126 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $54.19.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America lowered their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. 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 report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 15.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after acquiring an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,476,000 after acquiring an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,330,000 after acquiring an additional 32,318 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $483,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $90.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $51.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.70.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.62%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.92%.

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.