Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 1.4% - Time to Buy?

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) rose 1.4% on Friday . The company traded as high as $60.22 and last traded at $60.32. Approximately 1,304,292 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 8,624,382 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.5%

The company has a market capitalization of $101.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $58.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.88.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.76%. Altria Group's payout ratio is 68.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company's stock worth $9,490,196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company's stock worth $3,798,592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,483,487 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company's stock worth $2,193,687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134,748 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Altria Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company's stock worth $1,164,681,000 after acquiring an additional 76,004 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 8,146.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 18,698,594 shares of the company's stock worth $1,122,290,000 after acquiring an additional 18,471,846 shares during the period. 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.