First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Purchases 7,262 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 17.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,656 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,262 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,483,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after acquiring an additional 40,574 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Altria Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,960,000 after buying an additional 16,541 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Altria Group by 4.2% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,476,000 after buying an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,456,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,330,000 after buying an additional 32,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Altria Group stock opened at $50.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $86.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.71, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $54.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $51.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.25.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for 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%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.08%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.