White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 9,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $483,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Altria Group during the second quarter worth $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 85.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $54.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,942,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,561,073. The stock has a market cap of $91.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $55.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $51.47 and a 200-day moving average of $48.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. Altria Group's revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.52%. Altria Group's payout ratio is presently 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.