MRA Advisory Group Has $213,000 Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

MRA Advisory Group reduced its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 13.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,178 shares of the company’s stock after selling 676 shares during the quarter. MRA Advisory Group’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 120,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,844,000 after purchasing an additional 5,517 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 137,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,536,000 after acquiring an additional 5,025 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 451,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,233,000 after purchasing an additional 7,596 shares in the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 33,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,356,000 after buying an additional 2,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 46.6% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 126,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,122,000 after buying an additional 40,342 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.67.

Altria Group Stock Performance

NYSE MO opened at $49.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $85.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.06 and a 52-week high of $54.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.29.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued 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). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio 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.