Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 60,000 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 60,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,733,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,945,000. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 12,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $515,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,523,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,465,000 after purchasing an additional 333,656 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 39.7% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 33,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,355,000 after purchasing an additional 9,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Executive Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Executive Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on MO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.90.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Altria Group stock traded down $0.03 on Friday, reaching $50.43. 5,448,307 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,693,454. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $51.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $47.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.23.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.77%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 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.