Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Up 1.8% - What's Next?

Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) shot up 1.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $57.48 and last traded at $57.36. 1,621,400 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 8,738,206 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MO. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Trading Up 2.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $97.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $58.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.35.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.08%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.34%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

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