Gateway Wealth Partners LLC Acquires New Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Gateway Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% during the first quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Bank of America raised their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $51.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68, 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. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.20.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

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