Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) Shares Purchased by Prosperitas Financial LLC

Prosperitas Financial LLC raised its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 9.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 52,022 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,365 shares during the period. Altria Group comprises 1.4% of Prosperitas Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Prosperitas Financial LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $2,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after buying an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,703 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 415.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after purchasing an additional 793,327 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new position in Altria Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,613,000. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 182,943.7% in the second quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC now owns 569,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,930,000 after purchasing an additional 568,955 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com cut Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.17.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO opened at $53.87 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.25 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.43. The company has a market capitalization of $91.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 233.80% and a net margin of 42.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $1.02 dividend. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

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.