Claro Advisors LLC Acquires 1,979 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 28.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,055 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,979 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $462,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 66.2% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 46,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 18,450 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 33.4% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 45.5% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 65,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,854,000 after purchasing an additional 20,438 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 61.9% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 3,707 shares during the period. Finally, InterOcean Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 29,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after buying an additional 7,441 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO opened at $56.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.38. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $56.55. The company has a market capitalization of $95.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.24%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 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.