Pure Financial Advisors LLC Has $850,000 Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 122.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,652 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,155 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lmcg Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 13,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 706 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 14,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 2,485 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 38,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,988,000 after purchasing an additional 11,101 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 16,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $865,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 54,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,855,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America cut their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.17.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $53.87 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $54.95. The business’s fifty day moving average is $51.42 and its 200-day moving average is $48.49.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. Research analysts expect 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.57%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.92%.

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.