Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Price Target Raised to $46.00

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $45.00 to $46.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on MO. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company 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 report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO opened at $54.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $55.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.81.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after buying an additional 1,731,932 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after buying an additional 1,698,585 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the last quarter. 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.