World Investment Advisors Purchases 8,939 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 24.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,562 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,939 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors' holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,735,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 895.7% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 697 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE MO traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $59.51. The stock had a trading volume of 7,928,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,573,755. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.87 and a 1 year high of $61.26. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.52. The company has a market capitalization of $100.24 billion, a PE ratio of 9.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.59.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.44% and a net margin of 43.09%. The company's revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. 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 company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group's payout ratio is 68.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. Barclays raised their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 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 research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group raised shares of 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 research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Altria Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $57.71.

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.