Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 54,491 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,073 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 17.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 48,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after buying an additional 7,262 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 130,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,498,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $208,000. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% in the third quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 344,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,585,000 after purchasing an additional 7,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hedeker Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the third quarter worth $263,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $54.46 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95. The company has a market cap of $92.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $51.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.29.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.49%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price objective 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, October 15th. 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 report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.20.

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.