Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $3.42 Million Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,010 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,129 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,420,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MO. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Altria Group by 415.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP bought a new position in Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth about $27,613,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 182,943.7% in the 2nd quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,930,000 after purchasing an additional 568,955 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MO opened at $49.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $85.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.75. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid 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 8.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

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.