Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Acquired by Pinnacle Associates Ltd.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,418 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Altria Group by 120.6% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789,788 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association grew its stake in Altria Group by 103.9% in the 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 1,803,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,742,000 after acquiring an additional 919,058 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 131.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,418,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,211,000 after acquiring an additional 805,051 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,935,000 after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 1,712.8% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 820,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,811,000 after acquiring an additional 775,681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.08.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.8 %

Altria Group stock traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $53.77. 8,010,061 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,355,649. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $53.82. The firm has a market cap of $92.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.50.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.59%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.36%.

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.