Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Up 0.8% – Should You Buy?

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s stock price traded up 0.8% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $54.00 and last traded at $53.97. 1,099,951 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 9,816,423 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.54.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MO. UBS Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $51.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.70. The company has a market cap of $91.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.55%. 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 (DPR) is 68.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Altria Group during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 85.1% during the third quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.