Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Acquired by Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC

Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,764 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,239 shares during the period. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $651,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MO. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,510,000 after purchasing an additional 243,201 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Altria Group by 4.6% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after purchasing an additional 215,594 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in Altria Group by 19.9% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,034,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 670,858 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $54.18 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $51.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $54.95. The company has a market cap of $92.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 68.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays upped their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

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.