Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Now Covered by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an underperform rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Altria Group to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $56.75.

Altria Group Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of MO traded down $1.90 on Wednesday, reaching $57.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 22,196,231 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,641,100. Altria Group has a twelve month low of $46.02 and a twelve month high of $61.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.09 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.33 and a 200-day moving average of $56.54.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 43.09% and a negative return on equity of 295.44%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's payout ratio is 68.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MO. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 8,146.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,122,290,000 after buying an additional 18,471,846 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth approximately $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company's stock worth $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company's stock worth $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 111.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 5,558,252 shares of the company's stock valued at $333,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,928,006 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

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.