Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV Acquires New Shares in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Altria Group by 120.6% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,762,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,201,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789,788 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Altria Group by 3,786.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,743,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,985,000 after buying an additional 1,698,585 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $295,055,000 after buying an additional 1,299,703 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Altria Group by 415.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 984,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,935,000 after buying an additional 793,327 shares during the period. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP bought a new position in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter valued at about $27,613,000. 57.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altria Group Stock Performance

Shares of MO opened at $49.92 on Friday. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95. The stock has a market cap of $85.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 232.55% and a net margin of 42.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Altria Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.17%. This is a positive change from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s payout ratio is currently 85.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.20.

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.