Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,898 shares of the company’s stock after selling 902 shares during the quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $556,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 49.1% in the first quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 2,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after buying an additional 40,574 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,027,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,960,000 after buying an additional 16,541 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,476,000 after acquiring an additional 10,079 shares during the period. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Altria Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE MO opened at $49.84 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.06 and a 12 month high of $54.95. The stock has a market cap of $85.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.43, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50 day moving average is $51.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.19%. This is an increase from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is presently 85.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MO. UBS Group raised their target price on Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.17.

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.