Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Trading Up 0.3% – Time to Buy?

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shares traded up 0.3% on Friday . The company traded as high as $58.56 and last traded at $58.46. 1,426,597 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 8,466,394 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on 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. Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $98.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $55.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.59.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. Equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.01%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MO. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 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.