Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) rose 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $41.39 and last traded at $41.21. Approximately 1,737,066 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 11,518,033 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.10.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $70.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.43.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.48%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 7.3% during the third quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,304,000 after buying an additional 2,122 shares during the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,128,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 293.6% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after buying an additional 41,432 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

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.