Human Investing LLC Purchases New Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Altria Group by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,793,000 after acquiring an additional 191,236 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,510,000 after buying an additional 243,201 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after buying an additional 215,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,677,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,938,000 after buying an additional 224,206 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on MO. Barclays increased their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.40.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Altria Group stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $54.27. 2,292,051 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,866,078. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.29. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $54.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.02. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.52%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.34%.

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.