Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC Buys New Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 3,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Redwood Park Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Sierra Ocean LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 226.3% during the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $60.23 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.45 billion, a PE ratio of 10.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $45.87 and a 52-week high of $61.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.52.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.77%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price 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 note on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays raised 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.71.

Altria Group Company 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.