Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 0.4%

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) rose 0.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $44.08 and last traded at $43.98. Approximately 1,741,209 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 11,850,927 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $75.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.46 and its 200 day moving average is $41.51.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.91%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MO. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 54.1% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,653,455 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 305,996.5% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,316,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $525,810,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.