Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Acquired by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 19.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 196,843 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,005 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $10,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Fairman Group LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.9 %

MO stock opened at $54.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $92.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.97. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $55.05.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued 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 7.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.