Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC Takes $192,000 Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% in 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 boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in 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. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,510,000 after buying an additional 243,201 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after buying an additional 215,594 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:MO opened at $49.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.11 billion, a PE ratio of 10.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $54.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $51.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.45.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.23%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MO. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America upped 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. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.17.

About Altria Group

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.