V Square Quantitative Management LLC Purchases 4,238 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,451 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,238 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $840,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in Altria Group during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $49.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.75. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 85.36%.

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.