Barclays Raises Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Price Target to $45.00

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) had its target price increased by equities research analysts at Barclays from $43.00 to $45.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s price objective points to a potential downside of 16.19% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on MO. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.92.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock remained flat at $53.69 during trading on Monday. 539,222 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,260,537. Altria Group has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $54.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $50.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.06. The company has a market cap of $91.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Albion Financial Group UT grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 49.1% during the first quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,541 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. &PARTNERS purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter worth approximately $556,000. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $982,000. 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.