Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Altria Group Call Options (NYSE:MO)

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 77,485 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 128% compared to the typical daily volume of 33,967 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MO. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $55.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $93.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $58.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $52.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.78.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.40%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.29%.

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.