Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Price Target Raised to $46.00 at Barclays

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) had its price target upped by Barclays from $45.00 to $46.00 in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $53.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,503,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,835,439. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $51.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.70. Altria Group has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $55.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Altria Group will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.57%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MO. CWM LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after buying an additional 40,574 shares during the period. Regal Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,476,000 after purchasing an additional 10,079 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,330,000 after purchasing an additional 32,318 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 14,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.