Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Purchases 5,949 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 88,237 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,949 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MO. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 163.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 50,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,317,000 after buying an additional 31,568 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Altria Group by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,141,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,550,000 after acquiring an additional 423,091 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in Altria Group by 57.5% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 21,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,000 after purchasing an additional 7,983 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 387.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 350,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,956,000 after purchasing an additional 278,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lmcg Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 24.7% during the second quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 12,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 2,493 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Altria Group in a report on Thursday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.43.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $51.04 on Thursday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $58.03. The company has a market capitalization of $86.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.92.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

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.