Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Sold by Invst LLC

Invst LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,665 shares of the company’s stock after selling 444 shares during the period. Invst LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Altria Group by 120.6% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Altria Group by 415.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter worth approximately $27,613,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 182,943.7% during the second quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,930,000 after buying an additional 568,955 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $51.04 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95. The company has a market cap of $87.67 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.20.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.99%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MO. Barclays lifted their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America lifted their target price on 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 lifted their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.67.

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.