Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Acquired by Retirement Guys Formula LLC

Retirement Guys Formula LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 15.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 21,905 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,915 shares during the period. Retirement Guys Formula LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $3,127,218,000 after buying an additional 2,296,972 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 buying an additional 2,131,813 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at $91,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,257,000 after buying an additional 1,444,021 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MO. Wall Street Zen downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $60.52 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.19. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.17 and a 12 month high of $61.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.61.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.44% and a net margin of 43.09%. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company 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 $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.74%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.