Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 2% – What’s Next?

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)’s stock price traded up 2% on Monday . The company traded as high as $69.10 and last traded at $68.9130. 7,107,093 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 10,645,365 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.57.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Argus upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 2.0%

The stock has a market cap of $115.68 billion, a PE ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.37.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.02 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 29.84% and a negative return on equity of 287.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th were given a $1.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 26th. This represents a $4.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.2%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 103.16%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kera Capital Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 22,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,394,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the last quarter. Walser Wealth Management Company A Ltd Liability Co bought a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $357,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,294,000. Blue Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 169.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Capital Inc. now owns 16,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $938,000 after acquiring an additional 10,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $358,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Company Profile

Altria Group, Inc (NYSE: MO) is a U.S.-based consumer goods company whose principal business is the manufacture and sale of tobacco products. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, the company’s operations are focused primarily on the U.S. market and include the production, marketing and distribution of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and cigars. Its flagship cigarette franchise in the United States is sold through its operating subsidiaries and is among the most recognizable cigarette brands in the country.

Altria’s principal operating businesses include Philip Morris USA (cigarettes), U.S.