Beacon Financial Advisory LLC Has $1.08 Million Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,102 shares of the company’s stock after selling 980 shares during the quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the second quarter worth $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 33.4% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $54.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.44 billion, a PE ratio of 9.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $51.47 and its 200 day moving average is $48.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.53%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted 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. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.17.

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.