Seven Mile Advisory Buys New Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Seven Mile Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MO. Scarborough Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. SP Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. SP Asset Management LLC now owns 8,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Certuity LLC increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 13,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Altria Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Finally, Conning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 9,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Barclays upped their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.67.

Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MO opened at $52.96 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly 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 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 firm earned $1.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.70%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.01%.

Altria Group Company 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.