Cetera Investment Advisers Raises Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 10.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,173,882 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 108,685 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers owned about 0.07% of Altria Group worth $70,456,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,134,748 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,164,681,000 after purchasing an additional 76,004 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Altria Group by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $859,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444,021 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Altria Group by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $617,124,000 after purchasing an additional 983,328 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,927,340 shares of the company's stock worth $466,811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,323,421 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.4%

Altria Group stock opened at $59.82 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.57 and a 12-month high of $61.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.28 and a 200 day moving average of $57.06.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 43.09% and a negative return on equity of 295.44%. The company's revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.82%. Altria Group's payout ratio is 68.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MO. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC raised Altria Group to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $56.75.

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.

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