Golden State Wealth Management LLC Buys 7,278 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 130.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,837 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,278 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 worth $3,127,218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,972 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.8% in 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 buying an additional 1,134,748 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,273,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,164,681,000 after buying an additional 76,004 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 9.1% in 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 in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO opened at $58.82 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $59.20 and its 200 day moving average is $56.26. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.17 and a fifty-two week high of $61.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.85, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

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 given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 68.34%.

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.