GSA Capital Partners LLP Has $1.02 Million Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners LLP reduced its stake in Altria Group by 56.3%, holding 17,058 shares valued at approximately $1.02 million after selling 22,002 shares in Q1.
• Altria Group recorded earnings of $1.44 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.37, with revenue reaching $5.29 billion for the quarter.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.02 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 6.6%, reflecting a dividend payout ratio of 68.34%.

GSA Capital Partners LLP decreased its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 56.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,058 shares of the company's stock after selling 22,002 shares during the quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP's holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vista Investment Partners II LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the company's stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 9,452 shares of the company's stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN boosted its stake in Altria Group by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 12,049 shares of the company's stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,762 shares of the company's stock valued at $406,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 37.8% in the 1st quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 689 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of MO opened at $61.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $104.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.59. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $59.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.31. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.57 and a 1 year high of $62.32.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.26% and a net margin of 37.24%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MO. UBS Group upgraded Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have 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 data from MarketBeat, Altria Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $58.13.

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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