CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Increases Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 257,154 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 8,290 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Altria Group were worth $15,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 88.5% in the 1st quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 8,536 shares of the company's stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 4,007 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company's stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 6,954 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 17.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 36,028 shares of the company's stock worth $2,162,000 after purchasing an additional 5,440 shares in the last quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 115.5% in the fourth quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC now owns 13,115 shares of the company's stock valued at $686,000 after purchasing an additional 7,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patron Partners LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 12.2% in the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 12,217 shares of the company's stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MO. Wall Street Zen downgraded Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $57.71.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $59.62. The stock had a trading volume of 4,776,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,574,313. The stock has a market cap of $100.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.59. The company's 50 day moving average price is $59.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.39. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.76 and a 1-year high of $61.26.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.