Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 54,835 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MO. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 63.9% during the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MO. UBS Group lifted their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.17.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $53.87 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.38. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $54.95. The stock has a market cap of $91.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.29, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.02. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders 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 7.57%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 70.34%.

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.