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

WP Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,765 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 502 shares during the period. WP Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $1,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% in the 1st quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Argus raised shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Altria Group from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.08.

Altria Group Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MO traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.77. 8,010,061 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,355,649. The firm has a market cap of $92.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, 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 $53.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.50.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.59%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.36%.

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.