Eastern Bank Invests $828,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 16,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $828,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 103,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,505,000 after buying an additional 8,777 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth about $166,000. DGS Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $265,000. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 72.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 39,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,733,000 after acquiring an additional 16,662 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $49.80 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $85.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 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. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $51.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.95.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.19%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

About Altria Group

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.