Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Grows Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,787 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 5,720 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Algert Global LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 32.0% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 9,600 shares of the company's stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 2,330 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in Altria Group by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 507,465 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,569 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 444.9% in the 2nd quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 72,242 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,291,000 after purchasing an additional 58,984 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 27.8% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 63,686 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 13,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Wealth Strategies LLC. bought a new position in Altria Group in the second quarter worth approximately $256,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.7 %

MO stock traded down $0.91 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $52.54. The stock had a trading volume of 10,592,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,283,024. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $53.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.26. The company has a market cap of $89.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Altria Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.43.

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.