Gladius Capital Management LP Purchases 283 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Gladius Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,919 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. Gladius Capital Management LP’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MO. Delta Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 2.9% during the second quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 7,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Altria Group by 18.5% in the second quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP grew its position in shares of Altria Group by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP now owns 5,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 18,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MO. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.33.

Altria Group Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Altria Group stock opened at $55.93 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.26. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.25 and a 12-month high of $56.32. The company has a market cap of $94.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.33 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

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

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.