HB Wealth Management LLC Buys 19,054 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

by · The Cerbat Gem

HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO – Free Report) by 22.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 105,447 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 19,054 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 64.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 6,954 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 144,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,580,000 after acquiring an additional 7,498 shares during the last quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $216,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 126,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,622,000 after purchasing an additional 3,617 shares during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth about $2,665,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.4%

MO opened at $59.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $100.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.10. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.57 and a 12-month high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a net margin of 43.09% and a negative return on equity of 295.44%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.82%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on MO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group raised Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Needham & Company LLC raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.75.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Altria Group

About Altria Group

(Free Report)

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.

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