Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC Sells 302 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,768 shares of the company’s stock after selling 302 shares during the period. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 66.2% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 46,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,021,000 after purchasing an additional 18,450 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 33.4% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.6% during the first quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 6,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Rockport Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 45.5% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 65,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,854,000 after acquiring an additional 20,438 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Price Performance

NYSE:MO opened at $55.93 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.29. Altria Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.25 and a 1 year high of $56.32. The company has a market capitalization of $94.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.33.

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.