Sweeney & Michel LLC Buys Shares of 4,431 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sweeney & Michel LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,431 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,127,218,000 after buying an additional 2,296,972 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 6,969.4% in the first 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 during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth about $91,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Altria Group by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $859,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444,021 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO traded down $0.23 on Tuesday, hitting $60.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,784,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,640,027. The company has a market capitalization of $101.74 billion, a PE ratio of 9.22, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.83 and a fifty-two week high of $61.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $58.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.92.

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

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.75%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MO. Wall Street Zen lowered Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Altria Group to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup lifted 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus 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.