Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Has $332,000 Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,512 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,876 shares during the quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $332,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $543,000. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 42,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,844,000 after buying an additional 2,150 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 170.4% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 101,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,409,000 after acquiring an additional 63,701 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in Altria Group by 17.6% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 40,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,751,000 after acquiring an additional 6,009 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 8.4% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 207,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,034,000 after acquiring an additional 16,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $53.54 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $55.05. The company has a market cap of $90.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.70.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The business’s revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.92%.

Altria Group 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.