Elevated Capital Advisors LLC Sells 239 Shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Elevated Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 239 shares during the quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Altria Group by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 73,481,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,821,831,000 after buying an additional 3,910,738 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 729.8% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,969,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,932 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Altria Group by 3,786.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698,585 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Altria Group by 25.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,490,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Altria Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,803,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,605 shares during the period. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.33.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $50.84 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.25 and a twelve month high of $58.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $54.50 and a 200-day moving average of $51.88. The firm has a market cap of $86.16 billion, a PE ratio of 8.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.64.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.03. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.82% and a negative return on equity of 233.80%. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 26th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.