Ellis Investment Partners LLC Sells 554 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Ellis Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,146 shares of the company’s stock after selling 554 shares during the quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,793,000 after buying an additional 191,236 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,510,000 after buying an additional 243,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Altria Group by 4.6% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after buying an additional 215,594 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:MO opened at $49.71 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $54.95. The company has a market cap of $85.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.11.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

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.