Dearborn Partners LLC Invests $205,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 729.8% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,511,000 after buying an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the third 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 lifted its position in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Altria Group by 415.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 670,858 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:MO opened at $55.94 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $56.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.13.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.29%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

Altria Group 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.