Altria Group's (MO) Buy (B) Rating Reaffirmed at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Altria Group's stock received a reaffirmed "buy" rating from Weiss Ratings, while analysts at Barclays and Goldman Sachs adjusted their target prices, with Goldman Sachs raising it to $72.00.
• Despite the positive ratings, Altria's stock was down 1.5% during trading, closing at $65.64, with an average target price of $62.11.
• The company reported earnings of $1.44 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and indicating a slight year-over-year revenue growth of 0.2%.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy (b)" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Weiss Ratings in a research report issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on MO. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Altria Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group upgraded Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $72.00 price target on Altria Group in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.11.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Altria Group stock traded down $1.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $65.64. 3,469,830 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,904,624. Altria Group has a twelve month low of $48.86 and a twelve month high of $68.60. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $65.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.55.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%.The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Altria Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.350-5.450 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 64.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company's stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 6,954 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $392,000. Portside Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $271,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 41.4% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 48,333 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,841,000 after buying an additional 14,140 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Altria Group by 15.0% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 30,194 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,812,000 after buying an additional 3,941 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.