Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Acquires Shares of 48,018 Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 48,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,882,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $137,536,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,296,972 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,131,813 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $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 in the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. 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 report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two 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 stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.00.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.9%

MO stock opened at $59.96 on Wednesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.17 and a 1-year high of $61.26. The firm has a market cap of $101.00 billion, a PE ratio of 10.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.22.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.44% and a net margin of 43.09%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. On average, analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.80%. Altria Group’s 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.