Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. Invests $225,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. grew its stake in Altria Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. now owns 140,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,169,000 after acquiring an additional 2,546 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,059 shares during the period. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $828,000. Xcel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $233,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 5.4% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 29,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MO. 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. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $50.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $85.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $51.49 and its 200 day moving average is $47.94. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.15%. 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 is presently 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.