Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Down 0.6% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) fell 0.6% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $52.40 and last traded at $53.04. 1,387,293 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 7,192,424 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.5 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.65%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 15,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 85,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,450,000 after purchasing an additional 2,184 shares during the period. Hutner Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. now owns 102,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,378,000 after buying an additional 3,504 shares during the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $225,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in Altria Group by 239.3% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 993 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Company Profile

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.