Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading 0.8% Higher – What’s Next?

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shot up 0.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $58.48 and last traded at $58.20. 1,632,056 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 8,468,527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MO. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.2 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.60. The company has a market capitalization of $98.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.29%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Altria Group by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 263,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,759,000 after acquiring an additional 36,167 shares during the last quarter. Prostatis Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Prostatis Group LLC now owns 5,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the last quarter. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP bought a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $316,000. 111 Capital acquired a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $795,000. Finally, Northstar Financial Companies Inc. bought a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $639,000. 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.