Cypress Capital Group Purchases 873 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cypress Capital Group grew its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 72,501 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 873 shares during the quarter. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MO. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Altria Group by 120.6% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,788 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 103.9% in the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 1,803,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,742,000 after buying an additional 919,058 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,674,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,567,000 after acquiring an additional 915,478 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in Altria Group by 131.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,418,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,211,000 after acquiring an additional 805,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 415.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after acquiring an additional 793,327 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $52.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,149,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,471,797. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.11. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $52.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.78%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MO shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Argus raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.08.

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.