Trace Wealth Advisors LLC Buys New Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Trace Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,936 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burney Co. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 9,515 shares of the company's stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 896 shares in the last quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $325,000. Everpar Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 4,745 shares of the company's stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 80,197 shares of the company's stock worth $4,193,000 after purchasing an additional 6,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Somerset Trust Co acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $246,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. 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 report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $58.87 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $58.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.50. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $43.83 and a 1-year high of $61.26. The firm has a market cap of $99.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.93%. Altria Group's payout ratio is currently 68.34%.

About Altria Group

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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