Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Purchased by Rossby Financial LCC

Rossby Financial LCC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 96.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,095 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 5,931 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC's holdings in Altria Group were worth $705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company's stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 6,954 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 71,875 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,758,000 after buying an additional 9,520 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,658 shares of the company's stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 2,892 shares during the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,248 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,163,000 after buying an additional 787 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 72.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 195,260 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,210,000 after buying an additional 82,313 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.8%

Altria Group stock traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $59.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,776,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,574,313. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.76 and a twelve month high of $61.26. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $59.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.39.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.84%. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group raised Altria Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen cut Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $57.71.

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.