Calton & Associates Inc. Has $246,000 Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Calton & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 13.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,650 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the quarter. Calton & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Altria Group by 4,665.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,241,000 after acquiring an additional 3,888,907 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653,455 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,094 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $525,810,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 103.9% in the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 1,803,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,742,000 after purchasing an additional 919,058 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MO. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.90.

Insider Transactions at Altria Group

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $45.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $78.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.53, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $47.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $45.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.74.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.60%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.01%.

Altria Group 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.