Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC Acquires 298 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,442 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 15.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after buying an additional 40,574 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,476,000 after purchasing an additional 10,079 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,330,000 after purchasing an additional 32,318 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Altria Group by 7.2% in the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in Altria Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 14,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of MO traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $54.66. 2,002,308 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,835,805. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $55.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $51.47 and its 200-day moving average is $48.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.46%. 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 68.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

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.