Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Now Covered by StockNews.com

Analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Altria Group (NYSE:MO – Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm set a “buy” rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on MO. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Altria Group from $46.50 to $49.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.13.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO traded down $0.85 during trading on Thursday, hitting $45.32. The stock had a trading volume of 32,421,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,115,423. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $46.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.32. The firm has a market cap of $80.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group has a one year low of $40.35 and a one year high of $57.05.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.18. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 284.29% and a net margin of 22.97%. The firm had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group will post 5.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 108,222.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,590,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $849,763,000 after purchasing an additional 18,573,146 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 132.7% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,775,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,549,000 after purchasing an additional 5,003,900 shares during the period. Edmp Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4,424.6% in the fourth quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 4,074,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,131,000 after buying an additional 3,984,132 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,066,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,000,861,000 after buying an additional 3,516,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 815.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,723,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,337,000 after purchasing an additional 3,316,195 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.68% of the company’s stock.

About Altria Group

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Altria Group, Inc operates as a holding company, which engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States. It operates through the following segments: Smokeable Products, Oral tobacco products, and Wine. The Smokeable Products segment consists of cigarettes manufactured and sold by PM USA and machine-made large cigars and pipe tobacco manufactured and sold by Middleton.