Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Given New $36.50 Price Target at UBS Group

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) had its target price hoisted by UBS Group from $36.10 to $36.50 in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a sell rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on MO. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock opened at $41.96 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.46. Altria Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 244.55% and a net margin of 33.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.34%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 108,222.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,763,000 after purchasing an additional 18,573,146 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4,665.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,907 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 84.1% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,426,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,823,000 after purchasing an additional 2,478,576 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,233,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $493,497,000 after acquiring an additional 2,436,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 6.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,302,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,896,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,178,596 shares in the last quarter. 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.