Wealth Quarterback LLC Has $529,000 Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Wealth Quarterback LLC cut its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,369 shares of the company’s stock after selling 441 shares during the quarter. Wealth Quarterback LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after acquiring an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,476,000 after buying an additional 10,079 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,330,000 after buying an additional 32,318 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $483,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered 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. Two investment 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, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $54.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $91.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $55.05. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.81.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.55%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.92%.

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.