Ellsworth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,186 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,781 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 163.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 50,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 31,568 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 387.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 350,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,956,000 after buying an additional 278,500 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 65,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,995,000 after buying an additional 4,364 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 47,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,160,000 after buying an additional 2,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,097,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,969,000 after buying an additional 42,904 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $51.92 on Monday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $58.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.99. The company has a market cap of $87.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.77, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MO. Barclays lifted their target price on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.43.

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.