Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Invests $68,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 420.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altria Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on MO shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO stock opened at $57.62 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.65 and a fifty-two week high of $59.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.41 billion, a PE ratio of 8.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.48.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.08%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.29%.

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.