Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading 0.3% Higher

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 0.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $41.39 and last traded at $41.21. 1,737,066 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 11,518,033 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.4 %

The company has a market cap of $70.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.65. The business's 50 day moving average is $41.84 and its 200 day moving average is $41.43.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 33.21% and a negative return on equity of 244.55%. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. Altria Group's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Altria Group declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 404,894 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,248,000 after buying an additional 6,324 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 5.2% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,647 shares of the company's stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 3.4% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,711,773 shares of the company's stock valued at $141,690,000 after purchasing an additional 89,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at $498,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.