Prospera Financial Services Inc Acquires 7,088 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 79,149 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,088 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $4,040,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MO. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. boosted its stake in Altria Group by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Altria Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. 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 research report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $55.86 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $51.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.47. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $56.55. The stock has a market cap of $94.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. Altria Group’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.30%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.92%.

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.