LPL Financial LLC Purchases 368,076 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 11.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,496,865 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 368,076 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.21% of Altria Group worth $209,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MO. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 6,969.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,162,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,131,813 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the fourth quarter worth $91,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,432,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444,021 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,927,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,811,000 after acquiring an additional 1,323,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 86.0% during the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 2,675,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,894,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,782 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MO. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 price objective on Altria Group in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group upgraded Altria Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Altria Group in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.75.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $59.82 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.57 and a 1 year high of $61.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.14. The company has a market capitalization of $100.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.59.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.04. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 295.44% and a net margin of 43.09%. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.82%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.