MRA Advisory Group Acquires New Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

MRA Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 4,527 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 64.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company's stock worth $926,000 after purchasing an additional 6,954 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 58,801 shares of the company's stock worth $3,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 78.8% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 136,987 shares of the company's stock worth $7,141,000 after buying an additional 60,369 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management increased its position in Altria Group by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 10,838 shares of the company's stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,674 shares of the company's stock worth $715,000 after buying an additional 910 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO opened at $59.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $58.45 and a 200 day moving average of $55.99. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.83 and a fifty-two week high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders 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 yield of 6.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on MO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $56.00.

Altria Group 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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