Prossimo Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Prossimo Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,721 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $543,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Altria Group by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 39,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,909 shares during the period. BNP Paribas bought a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 41,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,789,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,960,000 after purchasing an additional 16,541 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of MO opened at $53.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $91.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $51.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.43. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.25 and a 52 week high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.02. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $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 year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.57%. 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 is 68.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup upped their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average 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.