Xponance Inc. Trims Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Xponance Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 3.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 200,875 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,473 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $9,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 21,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $989,000 after purchasing an additional 3,085 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Altria Group by 68.5% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 66,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,008,000 after purchasing an additional 26,853 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 1,634.3% in the 2nd quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 6,937 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 51.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,813 shares of the company’s stock valued at $432,000 after acquiring an additional 2,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter worth $146,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $51.02 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $51.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.63 billion, a PE ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.00%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.