Morgan Stanley Increases Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Price Target to $46.00

Altria Group (NYSE:MO – Get Rating) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $43.00 to $46.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Monday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group to $47.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Altria Group from a neutral rating to a sell rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $46.91.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $44.81 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.73 and a 200-day moving average of $44.66. Altria Group has a 1-year low of $40.35 and a 1-year high of $57.05. The company has a market cap of $80.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.62.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 27th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.03). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 345.98% and a net margin of 18.61%. The firm had revenue of $5.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Altria Group will post 4.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 22nd were given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 21st. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 146.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 35.1% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 72,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,946,000 after buying an additional 18,891 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.9% during the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 12,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,000 after buying an additional 487 shares during the period. Greenfield Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth $1,190,000. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.7% during the second quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 33,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,416,000 after buying an additional 1,511 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 22.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,400,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $177,700,000 after buying an additional 795,437 shares during the period. 58.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Altria Group

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Altria Group, Inc operates as a holding company, which engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States. It operates through the following segments: Smokeable Products, Oral tobacco products, and Wine. The Smokeable Products segment consists of cigarettes manufactured and sold by PM USA and machine-made large cigars and pipe tobacco manufactured and sold by Middleton.