B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC Acquires 1,667 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 58,150 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,667 shares during the period. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MO. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Altria Group by 120.6% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,613,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 182,943.7% during the second quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,930,000 after purchasing an additional 568,955 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.5 %

MO opened at $50.15 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.70. The company has a market cap of $86.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business 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 an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.14%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America dropped 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup raised their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

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.