Pathway Financial Advisers LLC Takes Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Albion Financial Group UT grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 49.1% during the first quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after acquiring an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 5,418 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,541 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 57,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,304,000 after purchasing an additional 11,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MO. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.90.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock traded up $1.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $51.07. The stock had a trading volume of 12,662,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,285,990. The firm has a market cap of $87.14 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $47.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.97. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $51.40.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 82.01%.

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.