Cetera Investment Advisers Buys 793,327 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 415.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 984,285 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers owned approximately 0.06% of Altria Group worth $42,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Patten & Patten Inc. TN boosted its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 14,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $623,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 12.1% during the first quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 2,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 7.0% during the first quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Triumph Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 15,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $678,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, Carson Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% during the first quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 6,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO stock traded up $1.05 on Friday, reaching $51.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,662,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,285,990. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.97. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $51.40. The firm has a market cap of $87.14 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business 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 earned $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.68%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MO shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.90.

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.