Ellsworth Advisors LLC Increases Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 14.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,405 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,998 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $786,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MO. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461 shares during the period. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 8.8% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 112,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,729,000 after purchasing an additional 9,049 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 84,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,320,000 after acquiring an additional 3,220 shares during the period. Finally, FLC Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 4.0% during the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 14,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $735,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. 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 report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock opened at $49.72 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.71. The stock has a market cap of $85.40 billion, a PE 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.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.21%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

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.