Venturi Wealth Management LLC Buys 2,347 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 53.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,750 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,347 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 63.9% during the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 33.4% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of 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 objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.9 %

MO opened at $54.44 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.97. The company has a market capitalization of $92.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $55.05.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.92%.

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.