Adero Partners LLC Purchases New Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Adero Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 3,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Altria Group by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 6,954 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 83,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,347,000 after purchasing an additional 12,839 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 91.0% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 97,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,978,000 after purchasing an additional 46,670 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 85.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 10,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 4,617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 5,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $58.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $99.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $58.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.10. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $43.92 and a one year high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. The business 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 company posted $1.15 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.94%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.