Fortis Group Advisors LLC Purchases 11,135 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Fortis Group Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 111.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,137 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,135 shares during the period. Fortis Group Advisors LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,193,687,000 after buying an additional 1,134,748 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,164,681,000 after buying an additional 76,004 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $617,124,000 after buying an additional 983,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,927,340 shares of the company's stock valued at $466,811,000 after buying an additional 1,323,421 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MO. UBS Group raised shares of Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $56.75.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:MO traded up $0.06 on Friday, reaching $58.04. 5,686,380 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,666,356. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $59.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.77. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $47.57 and a 52 week high of $61.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.59.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.44% and a net margin of 43.09%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.03%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.34%.

About Altria Group

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.