Peak Retirement Planning Inc. Invests $818,000 in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Peak Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 15,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $818,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Csenge Advisory Group increased its stake in Altria Group by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 54,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 12,320 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,418,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,441,000 after purchasing an additional 523,146 shares in the last quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. now owns 36,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 10,605 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Altria Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,414,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,563,000 after buying an additional 39,341 shares during the period. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Altria Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $920,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

Altria Group Trading Up 0.7%

Altria Group stock opened at $59.74 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.68. The stock has a market cap of $100.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. Altria Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $43.83 and a 12-month high of $61.26.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.64 billion. Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 258.72% and a net margin of 46.90%. Altria Group’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on MO shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Altria Group from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $60.00 target price on Altria Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Needham & Company LLC raised Altria Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Altria Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.00.

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.