As Price Languishes, Vetr Downgrades Altria Group

The Vetr crowd downgraded its rating on Altria Group Inc MO on Wednesday, from 5 stars (Strong Buy) issued 40 days ago, to 4 stars (Buy). Crowd sentiment at the time of the downgrade remained unanimously positive, with 100 percent of Vetr user ratings bullish.

Share price in the holding company, which includes tobacco manufacturers Philip Morris and John Middleton Co., took a 12-percent hit late in July after the FDA announced an initiative to decrease the amount of nicotine contained in cigarettes to "non-addictive levels."

Other tobacco stocks like British American Tobacco PLC (ADR) BTI and Philip Morris International Inc. PM experienced a similarly sharp downturn. Altria remains slow to show any signs of rebounding, remaining below its price at the time of the announcement more than a month later. As of September 6, Altria group was trading around $63.50.

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Currently, the Vetr crowd's average price target on Altria group is up at $69, which is still below the average analyst price target of $71.55 Less than 2 percent of Vetr users are holding MO in their watch-lists.