Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $290,000 Investment in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 5,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 120.6% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 25.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake 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 worth $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new stake in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,613,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 182,943.7% in the 2nd quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,930,000 after buying an additional 568,955 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Trading Down 0.3 %

Altria Group stock opened at $49.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $85.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.06 and a 52 week high of $54.95. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.79.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.22%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price target on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group lifted 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.20.

Altria Group Company 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.