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How to buy Altria Group stock
Own Altria Group stock in just a few minutes.
Fact checked
Altria Group, Inc is a tobacco business based in the US. Altria Group shares (MO) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Altria Group employs 7,100 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$20.8 billion.
How to buy shares in Altria Group
- Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
- Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
- Search for Altria Group. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: MO. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
- Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Altria Group reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
- Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Altria Group, depending on your broker.
- Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Altria Group. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.
What's in this guide?
- MO shares summary
- Compare share dealing platforms
- Is MO stock a buy or sell?
- Stock performance over time
- Can I short MO shares?
- Is MO suitable for ethical investing?
- Are MO shares over-valued?
- Altria Group's financials
- How volatile are MO shares?
- Does Altria Group pay a dividend?
- Have MO shares ever split?
- Other common questions
Altria Group share price
Use our graph to track the performance of MO stocks over time.Altria Group shares at a glance
Information last updated 2021-03-03.
| 52-week range | USD$28.3163 - USD$45.635 |
|---|---|
| 50-day moving average | USD$42.7276 |
| 200-day moving average | USD$41.2704 |
| Wall St. target price | USD$48.87 |
| PE ratio | 18.9271 |
| Dividend yield | USD$3.4 (7.6%) |
| Earnings per share (TTM) | USD$2.4 |
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Is it a good time to buy Altria Group stock?
The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.
This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.
Is Altria Group under- or over-valued?
Valuing Altria Group stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Altria Group's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.
Altria Group's P/E ratio
Altria Group's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 19x. In other words, Altria Group shares trade at around 19x recent earnings.
That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.
Altria Group's PEG ratio
Altria Group's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 6.5965. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.
The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Altria Group's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.
Altria Group's EBITDA
Altria Group's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$11.9 billion.
The EBITDA is a measure of a Altria Group's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.
Altria Group financials
| Revenue TTM | USD$20.8 billion |
|---|---|
| Operating margin TTM | 55.66% |
| Gross profit TTM | USD$13.5 billion |
| Return on assets TTM | 15% |
| Return on equity TTM | 95.56% |
| Profit margin | 21.43% |
| Book value | $1.528 |
| Market capitalisation | USD$84.4 billion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
Shorting Altria Group shares
There are currently 14.1 million Altria Group shares held short by investors – that's known as Altria Group's "short interest". This figure is 10.4% up from 12.7 million last month.
There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Altria Group shares can be evaluated.
Altria Group's "short interest ratio" (SIR)
Altria Group's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Altria Group shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Altria Group shares traded daily (recently around 7.9 million). Altria Group's SIR currently stands at 1.79. In other words for every 100,000 Altria Group shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1790 shares are currently held short.
However Altria Group's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Altria Group shares, or, against the total number of tradable Altria Group shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Altria Group's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Altria Group shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0076% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Altria Group shares, roughly 8 shares are currently held short).
Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Altria Group.
Find out more about how you can short Altria Group stock.
Altria Group's environmental, social and governance track record
Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Altria Group.
When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.
Altria Group's total ESG risk score
Total ESG risk: 30.51
Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Altria Group's overall score of 30.51 (as at 01/01/2019) is nothing to write home about – landing it in it in the 43rd percentile of companies rated in the same sector.
ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Altria Group is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).
Altria Group's environmental score
Environmental score: 11.31/100
Altria Group's environmental score of 11.31 puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Altria Group is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
Altria Group's social score
Social score: 17.43/100
Altria Group's social score of 17.43 puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Altria Group is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.
Altria Group's governance score
Governance score: 9.26/100
Altria Group's governance score puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Altria Group is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
Altria Group's controversy score
Controversy score: 3/5
ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Altria Group scored a 3 out of 5 for controversy – a middle-of-the-table result reflecting that Altria Group hasn't always managed to keep its nose clean.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary
Altria Group, Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.
| Total ESG score | 30.51 |
|---|---|
| Total ESG percentile | 42.94 |
| Environmental score | 11.31 |
| Environmental score percentile | 6 |
| Social score | 17.43 |
| Social score percentile | 6 |
| Governance score | 9.26 |
| Governance score percentile | 6 |
| Level of controversy | 3 |
Altria Group share dividends
Dividend payout ratio: 78.44% of net profits
Recently Altria Group has paid out, on average, around 78.44% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 7.69% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Altria Group shareholders could enjoy a 7.69% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Altria Group's case, that would currently equate to about $3.4 per share.
Altria Group's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.
Altria Group's most recent dividend payout was on 11 January 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 24 March 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").
Have Altria Group's shares ever split?
Altria Group's shares were split on a 3:1 basis on 11 April 1997. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 3 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Altria Group shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 66.7% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Altria Group shares which in turn could have impacted Altria Group's share price.
Altria Group share price volatility
Over the last 12 months, Altria Group's shares have ranged in value from as little as $28.3163 up to $45.635. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".
Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Altria Group's is 0.6222. This would suggest that Altria Group's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).
Altria Group overview
Altria Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cigarettes, smokeless products, and wine in the United States. It offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; cigars principally under the Black & Mild brand; and moist smokeless tobacco products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands, as well as provides on! oral nicotine pouches. The company also produces and sells varietal and blended table wines, and sparkling wines under the Chateau Ste. Michelle and 14 Hands names; owns Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Conn Creek, Patz & Hall, and Erath wine brands; and imports and markets Antinori, Torres, and Villa Maria Estate wines, as well as Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte in the United States. In addition, it provides finance leasing services primarily in transportation, power generation, real estate, and manufacturing equipment industries. The company sells its tobacco products primarily to wholesalers, including distributors; and large retail organizations, such as chain stores. Altria Group, Inc. was founded in 1822 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.
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