Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Upgraded at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group (NYSE:MO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $65.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $55.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on MO. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO opened at $57.32 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $53.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.54. Altria Group has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $58.03. The stock has a market cap of $97.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.68, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altria Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 420.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 63.9% during the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.