Inlet Private Wealth LLC Reduces Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Inlet Private Wealth LLC lowered its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 132,833 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Altria Group comprises 1.7% of Inlet Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Inlet Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $6,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% during the 1st quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in Altria Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the first quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on MO. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO traded down $0.30 during trading on Thursday, hitting $49.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,872,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,953,209. The company has a 50-day moving average of $51.57 and a 200-day moving average of $47.70. The firm has a market cap of $85.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter 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 year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.18%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.36%.

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.