Bridges Investment Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 21.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,158 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,421 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Scarborough Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. SP Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the second quarter. SP Asset Management LLC now owns 8,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Certuity LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 13,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $622,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conning Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 9,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MO. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Argus upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO opened at $50.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $51.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.77. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.10%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 85.36%.

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.