Pointe Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Pointe Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 4,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc acquired a new position in Altria Group in the first quarter worth $26,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. BNP Paribas acquired a new position in Altria Group in the first quarter worth $27,000. Finally, ZRC Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Argus upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.10.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of MO traded down $0.01 on Monday, hitting $47.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,630,761 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,945,213. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $45.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.19. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $48.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 222.80% and a net margin of 34.81%. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.21%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

Insider Activity at Altria Group

In other Altria Group news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total value of $988,303.65. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,624,665.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.