Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. Has $488,000 Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,329 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MO. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 2.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,679,000 after purchasing an additional 46,697 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after buying an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,215,000 after buying an additional 19,893 shares during the period. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,476,000 after buying an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 32,318 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.33.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of MO stock opened at $51.04 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $58.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.44 and its 200-day moving average is $51.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.62, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.92%.

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.