Simon Quick Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,531 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,098 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 4,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 5,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 6,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Skyline Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Skyline Advisors Inc. now owns 9,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 13,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on MO shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO opened at $59.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $100.98 billion, a PE ratio of 9.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $58.66 and its 200 day moving average is $56.10. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.83 and a fifty-two week high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.81%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.34%.

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.