Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Altria Group (NYSE:MO)
Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO – Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 133,015 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 306% compared to the typical daily volume of 32,797 put options.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
MO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Altria Group from $46.50 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 18th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Altria Group from $49.00 to $47.00 in a report on Monday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Altria Group from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 13th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Altria Group from $40.40 to $39.20 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.53.
Read Our Latest Report on Altria Group
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Altria Group news, Director Robert Matthews Davis bought 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $40.50 per share, with a total value of $48,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $343,156.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Trading of Altria Group
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in Altria Group by 100,097.6% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,100,359,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,846,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099,261,791 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Altria Group by 8.5% during the second quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 96,401,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,367,008,000 after purchasing an additional 7,546,851 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,564,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,262,710,000 after buying an additional 1,240,150 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 44,456,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,857,271,000 after buying an additional 840,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,025,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,672,836,000 after buying an additional 1,168,982 shares in the last quarter. 58.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Altria Group Trading Down 2.7 %
Shares of MO opened at $40.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $71.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $51.57. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.14.
Altria Group (NYSE:MO – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 26th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.43 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 35.58% and a negative return on equity of 237.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group will post 4.96 earnings per share for the current year.
Altria Group Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 21st will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 20th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.72%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.84%.
About Altria Group (Get Free Report)
Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company provides cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; cigars and pipe tobacco principally under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco products and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; and on! oral nicotine pouches.
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Original: MarketBeat News Feed: Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Altria Group (NYSE:MO)