Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Invests $205,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. purchased a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 4,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% during the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 33.4% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE:MO opened at $53.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $54.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.57.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 7.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.17.

Altria Group 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.