Altria Group Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:MO)

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 61,637 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 69% compared to the typical daily volume of 36,540 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MO. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,079,919,000 after buying an additional 1,003,605 shares in the last quarter. Brophy Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $993,000. Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in Altria Group by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 404,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,656,000 after acquiring an additional 58,709 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 15,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $831,000 after acquiring an additional 1,671 shares during the period. Finally, EWA LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $242,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MO. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup upped 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. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $55.93 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $56.32.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.29%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

Altria Group Company Profile

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.