Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Stock Price Up 1.1% – Still a Buy?

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s share price shot up 1.1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $58.59 and last traded at $57.96. 3,818,964 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 7,549,528 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on 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 Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $52.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.96. The company has a market cap of $95.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.24%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,127,218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $91,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 729.8% in the third 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. 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.