Investors Buy Shares of Altria Group (MO) on Weakness

Investors bought shares of Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO) on weakness during trading on Wednesday. $138.79 million flowed into the stock on the tick-up and $49.20 million flowed out of the stock on the tick-down, for a money net flow of $89.59 million into the stock. Of all companies tracked, Altria Group had the 6th highest net in-flow for the day. Altria Group traded down ($0.60) for the day and closed at $58.08

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MO. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 14th. ValuEngine lowered shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 23rd. Consumer Edge assumed coverage on Altria Group in a research report on Monday, June 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $69.31 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $70.00 target price on Altria Group and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Altria Group from $78.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.61.

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The stock has a market capitalization of $110.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.01. Altria Group had a return on equity of 48.88% and a net margin of 42.00%. The business had revenue of $4.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. research analysts anticipate that Altria Group Inc will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 14th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.84%.

Altria Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MO. Covington Capital Management boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Covington Capital Management now owns 60,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,313,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 31,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 19,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 6,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wayne Hummer Investments L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Wayne Hummer Investments L.L.C. now owns 18,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. 63.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cigarettes, smokeless products, and wine in the United States. It offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; cigars principally under the Black & Mild brand; and moist smokeless tobacco products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands.

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