RIA Advisory Group LLC Invests $655,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,840 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $655,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company's stock worth $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company's stock worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Altria Group by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company's stock worth $42,935,000 after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in Altria Group by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company's stock worth $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 670,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MO. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America cut their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock 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 given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock traded up $0.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $55.93. The company had a trading volume of 8,201,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,779,230. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $51.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.22. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $56.32. The company has a market capitalization of $94.79 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.29%. Altria Group's payout ratio is 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.