Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Makes New Investment in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. bought a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth $27,000. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in Altria Group during the first quarter valued at $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% in the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairman Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 85.1% in the third quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted 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 downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America decreased their target price on 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, Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE MO traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $49.71. 5,325,545 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,847,107. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.06. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $54.95. The stock has a market cap of $85.38 billion, a PE ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.21%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

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.