Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. Makes New $445,000 Investment in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,679,000 after acquiring an additional 46,697 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,215,000 after buying an additional 19,893 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,573,000 after buying an additional 12,011 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 54,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 12,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 318.5% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 51,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,712,000 after purchasing an additional 39,465 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup raised their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO opened at $59.87 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $57.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.99. The firm has a market cap of $100.85 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $43.44 and a twelve month high of $60.18.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 25th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.81%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.