Patron Partners LLC Purchases 1,325 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Patron Partners LLC lifted its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 12.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,217 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,325 shares during the quarter. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $733,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. Vista Investment Partners II LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 37.8% in the 1st quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 689 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 4,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Enterprise Financial Services Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 5,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 6,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $58.81 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.27 and a 1-year high of $61.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.28. The company has a market cap of $99.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.60.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly 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 business 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 quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, equities research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.94%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price target on Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Altria Group from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.