Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stock Price Up 0.6%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s stock price rose 0.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $43.65 and last traded at $43.18. Approximately 4,255,577 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 11,857,586 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average is $42.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.79 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4,665.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,907 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653,455 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,094 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 305,996.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,785 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $525,810,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

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.