Patron Partners LLC Has $504,000 Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Patron Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 26.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,063 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,905 shares during the period. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $504,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gentry Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 10,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 97,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,449,000 after acquiring an additional 4,273 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 4.4% in the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 177,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,066,000 after acquiring an additional 7,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 16.7% during the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 2,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.1 %

MO stock traded down $0.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $53.69. The company had a trading volume of 8,207,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,317,011. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $54.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

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.