Wealthspire Advisors LLC Has $2.49 Million Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 63.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 54,550 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 21,163 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,485,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MO. Scarborough Advisors LLC raised its stake in Altria Group by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. SP Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the second quarter. SP Asset Management LLC now owns 8,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Certuity LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 13,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 2.0% during the second quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conning Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 9,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MO. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.6 %

MO stock opened at $52.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $90.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.46. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.70%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 82.01%.

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.