Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Bought by Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C

Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C grew its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 88.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,214 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,475 shares during the quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% during the 1st 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 period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 131.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,418,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,211,000 after buying an additional 805,051 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,613,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MO shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Argus upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Bank of America raised their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $51.08 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.01. The stock has a market cap of $87.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.99%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.36%.

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.