Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group (NYSE:MO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.4 %

Altria Group stock opened at $53.54 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $55.05.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.62%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter worth $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 63.9% in the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Altria Group during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. 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.