Pathway Financial Advisers LLC Has $3.35 Million Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3,341.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,532 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,628 shares during the quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after buying an additional 40,574 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 49.1% in the first quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,960,000 after acquiring an additional 16,541 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 4.2% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,476,000 after purchasing an additional 10,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 2.3% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,330,000 after purchasing an additional 32,318 shares in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup increased their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of MO traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $49.71. 5,325,545 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,847,107. The firm has a market cap of $84.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.02. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.21%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 70.34%.

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.