Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Down 0.5% - Here's What Happened

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 0.5% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $57.62 and last traded at $57.81. 3,389,704 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 8,527,631 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $95.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.48.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.20%. Altria Group's payout ratio is 62.29%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MO. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Altria Group by 5.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910,738 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% in the 4th 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth $91,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company's stock worth $859,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444,021 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.