WealthCare Investment Partners LLC Acquires 823 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

WealthCare Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,736 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $3,127,218,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,972 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Altria Group by 6,969.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,131,813 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,444,021 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on MO. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup lifted 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, Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

MO opened at $59.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $100.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $59.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.17. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.17 and a 1 year high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.85%. 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.