Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Bought by Wealth Alliance

Wealth Alliance lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,065 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 460 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MO. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 154.4% during the 1st quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth about $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.67.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $50.23 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.69. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.12%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

Altria Group Company 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.