Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,397 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Altria Group were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Altria Group by 2.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,159,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,679,000 after purchasing an additional 46,697 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Altria Group by 15.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 305,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,603,000 after purchasing an additional 40,574 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Altria Group by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 367,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,215,000 after purchasing an additional 19,893 shares during the period. Regal Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Altria Group by 4.2% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 251,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,476,000 after purchasing an additional 10,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 240,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,573,000 after purchasing an additional 12,011 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Stock Performance

MO opened at $53.36 on Tuesday. Altria Group, Inc. has a one year low of $39.25 and a one year high of $58.03. The company has a market cap of $90.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.01, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.21.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.65%. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on MO. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Altria Group from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com raised Altria Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America raised Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Altria Group from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.43.

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.