Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.00.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Redwood Park Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 226.3% during the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $59.74 on Friday. Altria Group has a twelve month low of $43.83 and a twelve month high of $61.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $58.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.11. The company has a market capitalization of $100.64 billion, a PE ratio of 9.12, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Altria Group will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.34%.

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.