Klingman & Associates LLC Acquires Shares of 6,878 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Key Points

• Klingman & Associates LLC acquired 6,878 shares of Altria Group, valued at approximately $413,000, in the first quarter.
• Altria Group recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.02 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $4.08 with a yield of 6.2%.
• Analysts currently have a consensus rating of "Hold" for Altria Group, with an average target price of $59.13 per share.

Klingman & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,878 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $413,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 158,117,225 shares of the company's stock worth $9,490,196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300,787 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 5.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company's stock worth $3,798,592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,483,487 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised 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 worth $859,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444,021 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,243,041 shares of the company's stock valued at $734,827,000 after purchasing an additional 441,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 40.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company's stock valued at $717,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,415,237 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $65.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.86 and a fifty-two week high of $66.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.06 and a 200 day moving average of $58.08.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $5.29 billion during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Altria Group from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.13.

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.

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