Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC Sells 11,419 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC reduced its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,184 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,419 shares during the period. Altria Group makes up approximately 2.4% of Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $5,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MO. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,201,000 after buying an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association grew its position in Altria Group by 103.9% during the 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 1,803,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,742,000 after acquiring an additional 919,058 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in Altria Group by 131.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,418,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,211,000 after acquiring an additional 805,051 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Altria Group by 415.4% during the 1st 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. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Altria Group by 1,712.8% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 820,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,811,000 after purchasing an additional 775,681 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $53.69 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.98.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. 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 7.60%. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.58.

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.