Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,318 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $74,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. &PARTNERS purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth about $556,000. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 104.2% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 13,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $592,000 after acquiring an additional 6,925 shares during the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $224,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $144,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $49.61 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.79. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $54.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly 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 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 quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.22%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

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.