Fairman Group LLC Increases Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Fairman Group LLC raised its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 85.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 892 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. Fairman Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $46,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 103,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,505,000 after buying an additional 8,777 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at $166,000. DGS Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at $265,000. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 72.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 39,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,733,000 after purchasing an additional 16,662 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup raised their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. 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 note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $50.08. The company had a trading volume of 296,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,849,736. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.95. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $54.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its 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). Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.15%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.