Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Purchases 329 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI lifted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,406 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inscription Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group in the first quarter worth approximately $1,219,000. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 7.9% in the first quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. now owns 4,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.0% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 711,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,706,000 after buying an additional 20,438 shares in the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 24.8% in the first quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 73,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,429,000 after buying an additional 14,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Precedent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 18.7% during the first quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 27,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,637,000 after purchasing an additional 4,302 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of MO stock opened at $58.77 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $43.92 and a 12 month high of $61.26. The stock has a market cap of $99.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.10.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.94%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MO shares. Barclays increased 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. 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. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

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.