Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Price Target Increased to $36.50 by Analysts at UBS Group

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) had its price target hoisted by UBS Group from $36.10 to $36.50 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sell” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s target price suggests a potential downside of 13.33% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on MO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.4 %

MO opened at $42.12 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.46. Altria Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.04. The firm has a market cap of $72.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 1st that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 103.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

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.