American Capital Advisory LLC Raises Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

American Capital Advisory LLC boosted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,832 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $196,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 33.4% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. Bank of America decreased their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $54.48. The company had a trading volume of 2,397,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,840,913. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $55.05. The company has a market capitalization of $92.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.49%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

Altria Group 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.