Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC Purchases 1,182 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,591 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MO. CWM LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after buying an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 49.1% during the first quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,541 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,476,000 after purchasing an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MO. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE MO opened at $49.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $51.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.79.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

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.