Hollencrest Capital Management Increases Stock Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Hollencrest Capital Management grew its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,595 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. Hollencrest Capital Management’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $3,489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Albion Financial Group UT increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after buying an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Altria Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,960,000 after acquiring an additional 16,541 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Altria Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. &PARTNERS bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $556,000. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $982,000. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of MO opened at $50.23 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.06 and a 1-year high of $54.95. The company has a 50-day moving average of $51.22 and a 200 day moving average of $46.69.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.04). The business 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%. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.12%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.36%.

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.