Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC Buys 829 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,241 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 829 shares during the quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,805,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,127,218,000 after buying an additional 2,296,972 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 41,938,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,193,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134,748 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,164,681,000 after acquiring an additional 76,004 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,801,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $617,124,000 after buying an additional 983,328 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MO. Barclays upped their price target on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $58.58 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.05. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $43.83 and a one year high of $61.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.34%.

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.