Northeast Investment Management Purchases New Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Northeast Investment Management acquired a new position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Altria Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,355,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $562,793,000 after purchasing an additional 191,236 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 25.0% in 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 period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 5.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,060,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,510,000 after purchasing an additional 243,201 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Altria Group by 4.6% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,888,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,655,000 after purchasing an additional 215,594 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 9.1% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,677,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,938,000 after purchasing an additional 224,206 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MO has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Altria Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.17.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO opened at $53.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.57. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.25 and a 52-week high of $54.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.93 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.57%. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.