Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Buys 19,158 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 132.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,619 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,158 shares during the quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 154.4% in the first quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in Altria Group in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.2 %

Altria Group stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $50.53. The stock had a trading volume of 6,150,617 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,692,780. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $50.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $46.64 and its 200 day moving average is $43.70.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

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.