Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Buys 6,162 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 66.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,424 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,162 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 12,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $217,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $445,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report 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 report on Wednesday, September 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Barclays lifted their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $50.39 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $54.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $51.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.85. The firm has a market cap of $86.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given 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 yield of 8.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.