Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC Buys 272 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,070 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 12,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $217,000. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 71.6% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 12,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 5,129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MO shares. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group raised their price objective 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, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.67.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.4 %

Altria Group stock opened at $51.21 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.98. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95. The company has a market cap of $87.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.97%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

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.