Atria Investments Inc Boosts Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Atria Investments Inc raised its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) by 19.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 111,281 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 17,887 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc's holdings in Altria Group were worth $5,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter worth $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its holdings in Altria Group by 63.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America cut 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. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. 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 research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $54.44. The company had a trading volume of 8,097,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,811,576. 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 one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $55.05. The firm has a market cap of $92.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share 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 last year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 7.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group's payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

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.