Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Down 0% - What's Next?

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) fell 0% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $59.12 and last traded at $59.60. 1,116,282 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 8,755,253 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.61.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upped their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.6 %

The stock has a market cap of $101.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.15, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.92.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.80%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.34%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company's stock worth $2,193,687,000 after buying an additional 1,134,748 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Altria Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,164,681,000 after buying an additional 76,004 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Altria Group by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $859,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444,021 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $617,124,000 after acquiring an additional 983,328 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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