Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Purchased by Sittner & Nelson LLC

Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 240.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,665 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 63.9% during the second 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. Fairman Group LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 85.1% during the third 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. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the second quarter worth about $44,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on MO shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays upped their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. UBS Group upped their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.33.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $53.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.64. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.25 and a 1-year high of $55.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.49 and a 200-day moving average of $48.70.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.62%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Altria Group 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.