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

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 46,157 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 41% compared to the typical volume of 32,746 call options.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MO. BNP Paribas acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% in the second 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, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MO. Citigroup increased their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays raised their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Up 7.8 %

MO traded up $3.92 during trading on Thursday, hitting $54.42. 13,925,505 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,842,921. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $54.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.25.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Altria Group will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.50%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 70.34%.

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.