Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Buys Shares of 5,723 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after acquiring an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT increased its stake in Altria Group by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 911 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,960,000 after buying an additional 16,541 shares during the period. Regal Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,476,000 after buying an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Altria Group by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.1 %

MO stock opened at $49.07 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $51.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.88. The stock has a market cap of $84.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.27, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.31%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.