W Advisors LLC Takes Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

W Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% during the second 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 last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,510,000 after buying an additional 243,201 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,655,000 after acquiring an additional 215,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,677,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,938,000 after acquiring an additional 224,206 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Altria Group stock traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $54.36. 2,853,288 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,867,117. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95. The company has a market cap of $92.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.29.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.51%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.40.

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.