Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Increases Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 11,167 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. abrdn plc grew its holdings in Altria Group by 3.4% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 221,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,279,000 after acquiring an additional 7,366 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the third quarter worth about $208,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 17.5% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 48,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 7,262 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its holdings in Altria Group by 2.0% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 54,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Altria Group by 1.7% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 87,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,476,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $55.06 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $58.03. The company has a market cap of $93.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.41, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $52.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.85.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. On average, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were given a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.41%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on MO. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

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.