Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 0.3%

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s stock price traded up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $41.39 and last traded at $41.21. 1,737,066 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 11,518,033 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.10.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $72.26 billion, a PE ratio of 9.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.43.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. Altria Group’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.18 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth $25,000. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% in the 1st quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 103.2% during the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.