Altria Group Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:MO)

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 61,637 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 69% compared to the average volume of 36,540 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock traded up $0.55 on Friday, reaching $55.94. 8,196,637 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,779,230. Altria Group has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $56.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $51.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.13. The company has a market cap of $94.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.29%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,508,314 shares of the company's stock worth $2,935,224,000 after purchasing an additional 589,832 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company's stock worth $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company's stock valued at $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company's stock valued at $230,510,000 after buying an additional 243,201 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.