Stonegate Investment Group LLC Acquires 221 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,895 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 34.7% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 16,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 4,238 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in Altria Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 222,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,378,000 after purchasing an additional 3,663 shares during the period. Sweet Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $206,000. Ellsworth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 15,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,998 shares during the period. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 1,461 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.7 %

MO traded down $0.35 during trading on Friday, reaching $49.39. The stock had a trading volume of 1,923,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,935,194. The company has a market capitalization of $84.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.06 and a one year high of $54.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $51.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.71.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.26%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Company 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.