Brokerages Set Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Price Target at $56.00

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eight analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $56.00.

Several analysts have weighed in on MO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $59.41 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $58.92 and a 200 day moving average of $56.14. The company has a market capitalization of $100.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.60. Altria Group has a 1-year low of $44.53 and a 1-year high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.44% and a net margin of 43.09%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.87%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 8,146.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,122,290,000 after acquiring an additional 18,471,846 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,798,592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,483,487 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Altria Group by 40.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $717,913,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group by 111.3% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,606,000 after acquiring an additional 2,928,006 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.