Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Purchased by D Orazio & Associates Inc.

D Orazio & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 14,404 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,105 shares during the period. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 63.9% during the second quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Altria Group during the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 33.4% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted 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. Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research 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, Altria Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of MO traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,735,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,773,814. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $55.15. The company has a market cap of $93.40 billion, a PE ratio of 9.30, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.05.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The firm 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 7.40%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.92%.

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.