** Shares of tobacco giant Altria Group MO.N up ~2% to $57.06
** UBS upgrades stock to "buy" from "neutral", raises PT to $63 from $61
** Says despite slow progress in smoke-free, Altria could return to revenue growth, and deliver an acceleration in EPS growth over next two years
** Says worst of Altria's cigarette volume decline could be behind, citing improvement in 2026 helped by industry trends and price investments
** Brokerage believes cigarette sales are declining more slowly as there are fewer smokers left to switch to vapes
** Six of 16 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, seven "hold", 3 rate the stock "sell" or higher; with a median PT of $62.50
** Shares rose 10.3% in 2025
(Reporting by Koyena Das in Bengaluru)
((koyena.das@thomsonreuters.com))
Comments