Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Up 1.7% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shot up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $56.09 and last traded at $56.18. 1,965,491 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 7,263,689 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.25.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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 research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $95.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.78.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MO. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 valued at $3,821,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,127,218,000 after buying an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,193,687,000 after buying an additional 1,134,748 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,164,681,000 after acquiring an additional 76,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $859,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444,021 shares during the period. 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.