Cetera Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 22.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 427,087 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,227 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $18,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth about $206,000. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in Altria Group by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 102,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,460,000 after purchasing an additional 9,290 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth about $293,000. Finally, Independent Wealth Network Inc. grew its stake in Altria Group by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 18,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $809,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO traded up $1.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $51.07. The stock had a trading volume of 12,662,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,285,990. The company has a market capitalization of $87.14 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.66. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $51.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.97.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.68%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $36.10 to $36.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.90.

About Altria Group

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.