Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Takes Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. BNP Paribas bought a new position in Altria Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Altria Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. grew its position in Altria Group by 63.9% during the 2nd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fairman Group LLC grew its position in Altria Group by 85.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MO. UBS Group raised their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO traded down $0.23 on Friday, reaching $49.71. The stock had a trading volume of 5,325,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,847,107. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.06. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.06 and a 12-month high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released 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 net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.36%.

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.