Wesbanco Bank Inc. Purchases 825 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,891 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,934,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. CX Institutional grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 102,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,256,000 after buying an additional 16,247 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $200,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $290,000. Orca Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Orca Investment Management LLC now owns 10,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the period. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Altria Group in the third quarter worth approximately $661,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $49.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $85.73 billion, a PE ratio of 10.44, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.68. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company 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%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 8.17%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 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.