VELA Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

VELA Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 50,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,282,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 154.4% during the first quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 575 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in Altria Group in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Altria Group in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Altria Group during the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Altria Group Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of MO opened at $54.27 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.06 and a twelve month high of $54.95. The company has a market capitalization of $93.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.99 and a 200 day moving average of $45.88.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.1 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $1.02 dividend. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.52%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 85.36%.

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.