Bank of America Raises Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Price Target to $57.00

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) had its price target raised by Bank of America from $52.00 to $57.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on MO. Barclays raised their target price on Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a hold rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $48.58.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $53.69 on Wednesday. Altria Group has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $54.95. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $50.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.02. The stock has a market cap of $92.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group will post 5.1 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Delta Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.9% in the second quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 7,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its position in Altria Group by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 76,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,489,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. SP Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. SP Asset Management LLC now owns 8,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Certuity LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 13,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.