Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 83,677 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 776 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 63.9% during the 2nd 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 in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 33.4% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $55.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $93.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $55.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.09.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 7.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.92%.

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.