NFP Retirement Inc. Makes New $288,000 Investment in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Key Points

• NFP Retirement Inc. has made a new investment of approximately $288,000 in Altria Group, acquiring 4,796 shares during the first quarter.
• Several other hedge funds also increased their stakes in Altria, with Nuveen LLC purchasing a stake valued at about $219.1 million and JPMorgan Chase & Co. raising their holdings by 40.0% in the same period.
• Altria Group recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.02 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 6.2%.

NFP Retirement Inc. purchased a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,796 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $219,141,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,288,773 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,798,592,000 after buying an additional 3,483,487 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,961,220 shares of the company's stock valued at $717,913,000 after buying an additional 3,415,237 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 6,969.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,401 shares of the company's stock valued at $129,787,000 after buying an additional 2,131,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $91,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Altria Group to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.13.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $65.53 on Thursday. The company 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 12 month low of $48.86 and a 12 month high of $66.29. The firm's 50-day moving average is $60.06 and its 200 day moving average is $58.08.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.21 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 37.24% and a negative return on equity of 295.26%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 78.92%.

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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