Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 0.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) shares shot up 0.6% on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $46.00. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Altria Group traded as high as $55.05 and last traded at $54.51. 2,478,301 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 9,844,079 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.19.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on MO. UBS Group boosted their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America dropped their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.33.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Delta Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 7,064 shares of the company's stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP increased its stake in Altria Group by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP now owns 5,860 shares of the company's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,851 shares of the company's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 18,454 shares of the company's stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.2 %

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.99 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.52%. Altria Group's payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.