Janiczek Wealth Management LLC Purchases 247 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,767 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MO. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Altria Group by 4,665.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,972,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,888,907 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,084,000 after buying an additional 1,653,455 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,259,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,094 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $525,810,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association increased its stake in Altria Group by 103.9% during the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 1,803,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,742,000 after acquiring an additional 919,058 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MO. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.90.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of MO opened at $45.46 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $47.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $45.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.69.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 34.81% and a negative return on equity of 222.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. Analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Charles N. Whitaker sold 22,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.95, for a total transaction of $988,303.65. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,485 shares in the company, valued at $7,624,665.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

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.