Capital Investment Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 606,791 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,161 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $36,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,127,218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 6,969.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,401 shares of the company's stock valued at $129,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,131,813 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $91,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company's stock worth $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MO. Wall Street Zen cut Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Altria Group to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.2%

MO traded down $0.14 during trading on Friday, reaching $59.25. The company had a trading volume of 4,856,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,636,988. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.02. The stock has a market cap of $99.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $43.83 and a 52 week high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 6.89%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.34%.

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.