WealthCare Investment Partners LLC Purchases 468 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

WealthCare Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 19,513 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 468 shares during the quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% in the 1st quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the second quarter worth $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.17.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $49.55 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.06 and a 1 year high of $54.95. The stock has a market cap of $85.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.40.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. 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 8.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

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.